When the burial ground bye-laws are finally passed by Mayo County Council, if there is a breach of the bye-laws in regard to the height and type of grave constructed, the monumental sculptor will be held responsible for it, it emerged this week.
The long-drawn out saga of the approval of bye-laws for burial grounds in Mayo moved a step closer to a conclusion this week, with the adoption of a number of new amendments to the draft bye-laws by the Environmental Policy and Agriculture Strategic Policy Committee of the council, which will go for final approval to the full body of the council in the near future. Three amendments were put before the committee from the draft bye-laws, two of them passed the committee unanimously. They were increasing the maximum height of the headstones from 1.4 metres to 1.5 metres and allowing adornments on the grave up to a height of 0.45m. However the final amendment of allowing a breach of the height of a headstone regulation to be given the go-ahead by the by the county manager or his delegate, was only passed on a vote of four-three at the committee meeting. The reason for allowing such a caveat in the bye-laws, the members were told, was that some graveyards currently had a certain look and shape to them and it would allow the council to keep uniformity of those graveyards if needed.
Sean Smyth, senior executive officer for Mayo County Council, informed the meeting that the monumental sculptors would be informed of all the regulations in the bye-laws and that if they breached the bye-laws they would be held responsible for the breach and could be prosecuted over it.
