New Columbarium Wall installed at Coosan Cemetery

Cllr Aengus O'Rourke has been pushing for the installation of a Columbarium Wall at Coosan Cemetery for some time.

He said: "I am delighted that finally the wishes of many people can be met and that we are now moving with the times. There are already a lot of enquiries about the new Columbarium Wall, so I expect that it will provide an important option for people and for families going forward.

Cllr O'Rourke explained: "A columbarium is an area used to store the ashes of the deceased who have been cremated. The ashes are kept in urns, and the urns are placed inside compartments within the columbarium. A Columbarium can be either a wall or a room. In the case of Coosan Cemetery, it is a wall structure.

"I have been contacted myself by more than two dozen families in the past year, from the Athlone area, looking for a facility like this in the 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.

"This is just the first Columbarium Wall in Athlone. The location of the wall in Coosan Cemetery allows us to add further walls along this section of the cemetery in time, and as we determine the likely demand. I will also continue to work on plans to have Columbarium Walls installed in all of the cemeteries in the Athlone/Moate district.

"In time, ash plots are also an option I would like see the council provide in our cemeteries. An 'Ash Plot' is a burial plot for ashes following a cremation. The plot is less than one third the size of a traditional burial plot."