Westmeath County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, has welcomed the installation of a long sought after Columbarian Wall within the grounds of Coosan cemetery.
“I am delighted that the wishes of many people can finally be met and that we are now moving with the times. I expect the Columbarium Wall to be in place very soon, certainly before the summer.
“A columbarium is an area used to store the ashes of the deceased who have been cremated. Those ashes are kept in urns and the urns are placed inside compartments, within the columbarium. The columbarium itself can be either a wall or a room. In the case of Coosan, it will be a wall structure.
“I recently visited St Peter & Paul’s cemetery in Portlaoise to see for myself a newly installed Columbarium Wall. My fellow elected representative in County Laois, Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, put a lot of work into delivering this facility for the people of the county and it is being widely used.
“I have been contacted myself by more than a dozen families in the past year, from the Athlone area, looking for a facility like this for our town. Many people have the ashes of their loved ones in urns at home, but in many cases now families are looking for a final, permanent resting place for their loved one in a cemetery. As with a grave, a Columbarium Wall is a place where the remains of loved ones are kept, it is seen as sacred, and thus treated with the same respect and reverence.
“I would like to thank Denis Sloyan, Westmeath County Council Engineer for his assistance with this important project,” Cllr O’Rourke concluded.
