A former Belfast lord mayor is hoping to bring the law for privately-owned cemeteries into line with their public counterparts to ensure bereaved parents are spared the trauma her mother endured after the burial of her stillborn babies.
Nuala McAllister is on Monday launching a consultation on a private member’s bill that will place the same responsibilities on churches as local councils in relation to maintenance and record-keeping for the cemeteries they own.
The law for publicly-managed burial grounds in the north, which lists a series of statutory regulations, does not currently apply to those under private ownership.
The Alliance MLA’s Burial Protections Bill would ensure both have the same legal responsibilities.
Ms McAllister determination to bring forward the legislation was prompted by her own mother’s experience.
She believes three stillborn siblings were buried in unmarked graves in Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast.
It is estimated that the remains of more than 11,000 infants and adults are buried in unmarked graves in what was previously unconsecrated ground at the eastern side of the cemetery.
The North Belfast representative said after her mother lost a baby boy during birth and twins during pregnancy, their bodies were taken from her to be buried.
She said her mother was told that her babies’ remains were in Milltown but because of poor record keeping the exact location isn’t known.
Ms McAllister said she had been contacted by a number of constituents and other families, some as far afield as the Netherlands and Australia, who had similar experiences.
In recent years, the Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor has carried out groundworks at the site, including the construction of new drainage and pathways on the land reclaimed from Ulster Wildlife in 2009.
Last year, the Alliance representative called for a halt to the construction work, as she was concerned it could disturb the mass graves.
According to the diocese, however, a recent independent archaeological assessment and review of records concluded that there are no existing burial sites within the specified area.
For the Alliance representative, the situation highlighted the disparity and shortcomings in the law for private and public cemeteries – a distinction she hopes her proposed legislation will eliminate.
In Scotland, the law has been changed to put both categories of burial ground on the same footing, while the English Law Commission is reviewing burial and cremation law.
“The regulations in Northern Ireland’s 1992 legislation for publicly-owned cemeteries are pretty strict in terms the repair and maintenance, mapping records and the right to erect memorials,” she said.
“There are other pieces of legislation which everyone is governed by and a lot of the churches say they use that as their basis, but that’s not the same as being statutory bound by it.”
The bill will be out for consultation over the summer months and Ms McAllister hopes to introduce it to the assembly before next year’s summer recess.
“I hope that it’ll ensure all cemeteries right across Northern Ireland are governed by the same rules, so that we can preserve records and documentation, but also the way the graves are kept, the right to burial and memorials. It will also tighten the regulations regarding the re-use of lands and burials,” she said.
The Alliance MLA also aims to ensure the trauma her mother and others whose babies were buried in unmarked graves isn’t repeated in the future.
“I can’t imagine the trauma of losing a baby at birth and then not being told where your baby is buried, or to have wait 40 years or longer to get that information,” she said.
“Regardless of whether you’re from a religious background or not, you need to have respect for the dead and hopefully in future the families affected can rest easy knowing that their loved ones are left be, even if they weren’t respected in life.”