Calls to include cemetery committees in pilot insurance scheme

Calls to include cemetery committees in a pilot scheme providing insurance cover to Tidy Towns groups were made at a recent meeting of Roscommon County Council.

In response to queries from Independent councillor Valerie Byrne, director of services Caitlín Conneely explained that a pilot scheme being funded by Roscommon County Council through its insurer, Irish Public Bodies (IPB), pays for insurance policies for more than 25 Tidy Towns groups in the county.

She said this insurance was being provided for groups registered with the Public Participation Network (PPN) and which meet the conditions.

“We’re looking to get that scheme expanded but that’s not a free scheme to us, that’s out of our own resources through IPB.

“There is a cost to it, but it does take a lot of the responsibility away from the groups and we’re hoping to expand that. We will be discussing that with IPB in due course,” she said.

Cllr Byrne’s proposal that the scheme be extended to cemetery committees was widely supported by fellow members. The proposal was seconded by Cathaoirleach Paschal Fitzmaurice.

CEO Shane Tiernan informed councillors that he was a member of the national group of chief executives pushing for the insurance scheme for Tidy Towns committees. He said there was an openness about expanding the scheme, but it was a case of seeing how the pilot scheme worked first.

In a discussion on the 2025 cemetery maintenance grant allocations, Cllr Byrne welcomed the funding of €75,000 for local committees. She also complimented the work of all the committees around the county.

Mr Tiernan said the local authority was delighted to give out this funding because without these local committees, facilities in towns and villages would not be at the standard they were now at.

Cathaoirleach Paschal Fitzmaurice thanked all the cemetery committees for the great work that they did. “Without them, our county would be at a great loss”, he said.

On behalf of the members, he also thanked all the Tidy Town committees and volunteers for their involvement in the recent national spring clean. which was carried out in towns and villages over the last number of weeks. “My sincere appreciation to every voluntary group in the county,” he said.

Welcoming the funding for cemeteries, Cllr Tom Crosby recalled that when he was county chairperson of the graveyards committee in the nineties, he and colleagues, such as his late council colleague John Connor, managed to increase maintenance funding from 12,000 to 100,000 pounds.

He said the cemeteries back then were in an appalling state and commended everyone currently serving on the county committee.

“The funding did slip back a bit in more recent years, but the emphasis must be on the fact that the money spent on these voluntary groups was worth tenfold. We need to increase this money because it is well spent money,” he said, Cllr John Keogh (FF) hoped that the cemetery maintenance budget could be looked at next year to see if it could be increased up to €100,000 for the 2026 budget.

“We need to support the voluntary organisations as much as possible who are doing tremendous work,” he said. As a nominee to the IPB, he said he would be raising the matter at the IPB AGM.

Agreeing that the current budget needed to be looked at, Cllr Sean Moylan (FF) also noted that a lot of clearing up had to be done in these cemeteries following the storms.

Cllr Tony Ward (Ind) said the budget for cemetery maintenance at one stage was as high as 150,000 pounds. “My parish is no different to any other parish in the county in relation to the amount of work being done on a voluntary basis,” he added.

Cllr Michéal Frain (Ind) saw no reason why the insurance scheme benefitting Tidy Towns group could not be extended to graveyard committees.

“The one thing that has hit me over the years is that there are voluntary groups working tirelessly in cemeteries. After all it’s our departed people we are talking about,” he said.

Pointing out that the local authority, like others, collected money for the opening and purchasing of graves, he went on to say that a new model for funding was needed.

He added that he was aware of a policy document but said the first thing needed was to increase the budget and possibly getting that insurance cover from IPB. He also thanked all those involved in Rural Social Schemes working around the county.

Cllr Liam Callaghan (FG) welcomed the funding and thanked all the committees doing great work throughout the year. “The standard of cemeteries has increased immensely over the years,” he said.

He proposed that correspondence to be sent to the Minister for Rural and Community Development to ensure that participants on RSS schemes were reimbursed properly.

Following a request from Cllr Fitzmaurice, it was also agreed that the same correspondence would include a call to extend the length of time for those participating on these schemes.

Cllr Fitzmaurice said that the Rural Social Scheme and Community Employment Schemes did great work in cemeteries across the county.

Cllr Nigel Dineen (II) welcomed the cemetery maintenance grants and thanked all the volunteers for their tireless work. “Without these schemes, we would have a lot of overgrown cemeteries around the county. We certainly need to look at Budget 2026 to increase the fund,” he said.

Cllr Larry Brennan (FF) welcomed the funding and thanked the council for “some of the excellent work it has done” cleaning up cemeteries since Storm Éowyn.

Responding to a query from Cllr Fitzmaurice about headstones damaged by storms in council owned cemeteries, director of services Caitlín Conneely said people were free to make claims to the IPB. which was prepared to look at them on a case-by-case basis.