After more than a year of campaigning for its return, the seven day burial service is due to be restored by the end of this year, according to city councillor Ollie Crowe who described it as the “right outcome”.
The Fianna Fail councillor said that following discussions with the city manager Brendan McGrath it had been confirmed that the seven day burial service, which was discontinued in January 2013, will now be restored.
“Having worked on the issue over the last two years, it has been a long struggle but thankfully the right outcome had been secured,” said Cllr Crowe, who led the campaign to restore the service and set up a petition which attracted hundreds of signatures.
“We heard a lot of talk about how no other cities have this service, but ultimately it’s not about what other cities do but what is best for Galway, and for once, all elected members of Galway City Council were in unanimous agreement that Galway is best served by a seven day burial service,” said Cllr Crowe, who then expressed his gratitute to Mr McGrath for being a “man of his word” by fulfilling his promise to restore the service.
According to Cllr Crowe the issue really showed what could be accomplished when “councillors speak out on issues of importance to the community” as “a decision can be reversed and a important community service saved to the benefit of our city”.
The suspension of the seven day burial has caused many problems for the community including the added expenses to mourners and the backlog which frequently arose due to absence of Sunday burials. According to Cllr Crowe the local economy was also affected as many people had to take time off work on a Monday to attend a funeral which would otherwise have been held on a Sunday.
