The large plot at the bottom of Milltown Cemetery is the resting place of thousands of babies who were stillborn or who died before baptism. As well as this, the site contains mass graves for those whose family weren't able to afford a proper burial.
Thousands of such burials took place in this area of the cemetery from the late 1930s right up until the 1990s. Earlier this month, the Diocese of Down and Connor confirmed a portion of the 6.3 acre site will be used to support new grave provision for the next 25 years.
This site, in the Bog Meadows area of the graveyard, was sold by the church to the Ulster Wildlife Trust (UWT) in 2000, but reclaimed nine years later after foresnic archeologist Toni Maguire's work showed there were unmarked burial plots on the site.
The then Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor publicly apologised to families for the land having been sold, and promised it would never be used again for burial. It has been claimed that up to 11,000 people could be buried without recognition in the lower section of the cemetery.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Toni Maguire, who worked as an archeologist for the Diocese in Milltown Cemetery from 2008 to 2012, said the current works should be halted. When beginning her work for the church, Toni was told they could not pay for her service.
In lieu of payment, she said she would stick with the project until it was completed to her satisfaction, and that any land brought back to the stewardship of the cemetery was to never be disturbed or used for burial again. With the latest works underway, she believes the church have broken that contract.
She added: "This land should never have been disturbed, we trusted the Diocese to keep their promise to the relatives of those buried in this disrespectful way that all the burials would be protected. Any burials in the land they have now torn apart are gone forever, is it right and just that they still get to profit from that? People buying a grave in this cemetery need to realise that they only rent their grave for the next seventy years."
Siubhainin Ní Chutnneagan, who has relatives buried in the lower section of Milltown Cemetery, is also appealing for the current plans to be halted and the site to be left alone.
She said: "If someone had told us many years ago we would sit in rooms with priests, a bishop and others from the Diocese of Down and Connor and we would be lied to, had faithful promises broken, experience a level of unprecedented depravity and disrespect in relation to Roman Catholic dead, we would not have believed it, but thats exactly what happened and continues to happen daily.
"Two groups of families of those buried in 37 acres of poor ground fought to have this burial land returned after it had been used as a landfill, then sold to the UWT to be incorporated into the Bog Medows nature reserve in 2000 by the Diocese of Down and Connor.
"Only 6.28 acres were returned with not only their apologies but also a faithful promise that this land would never be reused due to their own admission it did contain mass burials and thats the reason they took it back in the first place. Plans have since come to light when the land was returned late 2009-2010 they already had plans to resell the burial land."
Referring to two archeological surveys of the land, one commissioned by the Diocese in 2008 and another by Professor Alistair Ruffel of Queen's University Belfast, which both showed burials had taken place in shallow graves on the site, Siubhainin added: "For the Diocese to now say there are no burials in the land they have churned up with fourteen tonne diggers beggars belief.
"We have seen the burials, we were there every day during both these surveys. We all who were present from both groups of families saw these adult and infant coffins in mass graves."
As for the impact this has had on families, she added: "Mothers are still coming forward looking for their infants, constantly lied to as to their location, many families told their relatives were never buried there. Many pleading for decades and hitting a brick wall of potential lies and deceipt. Infants buried under car parks, roads now cut through mass graves of adults, children and infants.
"We can only imagine how other faiths in Belfast would react if this desecration of sacred graves were happening in their community."
Announcing the latest burial provision update, the Diocese of Down and Connor said a recent independent archaeological assessment, and a thorough review of burial records, provided "irrefutable scientific evidence that there are no existing burials within the expansion area."
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Down and Connor said: “Works are underway at Milltown Cemetery as part of a long-term plan to safeguard burial provision for the wider Belfast community over the next 25 years. With City Cemetery now closed to new burials, the Diocese has brought a previously unused section of land back into use to meet growing demand.
“The area now under development is part of a 6.3-acre site that was transferred back to diocesan ownership from Ulster Wildlife in 2009. The Diocese has always committed to preserving and respecting the Baby Graves section and this continues to be the case. That section has not been disturbed and has been carefully protected, marked with a laurel hedge, and respectfully memorialised with black granite headstones.
“Prior to any work beginning, three independent archaeological surveys and a review of burial records were carried out under licence from the Department for Communities. These confirm with certainty that no burials exist within the area now under development. All archaeological conditions have been fully met.
“The Diocese has also been engaging with the Truth Recovery Design Panel records team during the past year and has provided access to all the original records, undertaking research for the team and providing information and allowing digitisation of the original records to assist them in their work.
“The Diocese will continue to engage with all relevant authorities, stakeholders, and families to ensure the respectful stewardship of Milltown Cemetery now and into the future.”