From the Galway City Tribune – The Council is aiming to progress plans for a new cemetery – as fears grow that more families will be forced outside Galway City to bury their loved ones.

A recent meeting of the Council was told that hydrology surveying had been carried out at the proposed location for the graveyard – at a site adjacent to the Connacht Hotel on the Dublin Road.

Located on the town side of the hotel, it is estimated that if the proposal were to succeed, it would cost the local authority in excess of €2 million to ready the cemetery.

Cllr Alan Cheevers (FF) expressed concerns that despite years of talks, there remained doubt over the suitability of the site.

“When this came on the agenda first, we were told there were 12 or 14 sites being looked at. We were then told that this site on the Dublin Road was possibly the best site available to us,” said Cllr Cheevers.

“Is there some doubt about that now?”

His City East colleague, Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) also questioned if the long-awaited project was going to get off the ground.

Director of Services for Environment, Patrick Greene, told the meeting that as part of the pre-planning process, a number of surveys were required and of particular importance was the hydrological risk assessment.

“The water survey has taken place. We are hoping to have the report back in quarter one.

“We are trying to work our way through it. We are mainly looking at water underground,” said Mr Greene.

There was a degree of pressure to advance the project, he said, but he was hopeful the Dublin Road site would be deemed feasible.

“We will get a recommendation of whether it is suitable or not. At this point, I can’t say either way.

“We have to make a decision on it because it is a long planning process and if it is not suitable, we will have to find another site,” said Mr Greene.

The new burial ground was included as part of the City Council’s Three-Year Capital Programme in which it was outlined that the next stage, if no issues arose, was to advance to planning permission.