FINE GAEL TD Seymour Crawford has appealed for calm in a dispute over the burial arrangements for Cavan man Mervyn Heaslip, who died last week.
Mr Heaslip, who would have been 56 yesterday, was from Crosserlough, Co Cavan, but was buried in Stranorlar, Co Donegal, where his mother Rebecca Elliot now lives.
However, neighbours and friends in Cavan claimed that Mr Heaslip's dying wish had been to be buried in Crosserlough and he had bought a plot in the local cemetery.
Mr Heaslip's friend Michael Cobey said Mr Heaslip knew he was dying and he had everything arranged for his funeral. "It is a disgrace that his last wish was not honoured."
Mr Cobey's sister, Maria Collins, said the community was "very angry that it has been deprived of the chance to lay him to rest here. Mervyn was hardly ever outside the parish let alone next or near Co Donegal. It is is here that he should have been buried."
Unnamed friends were quoted in newspapers yesterday as saying that they would fight to have his remains returned to Crosserlough and would dig up the body if necessary.
Mr Crawford said he could fully understand that feelings were running high but he could not condone the digging up of a coffin.
Mr Heaslip was evicted from the 40-acre farm at Derry, Crosserlough, after his mother was granted a court order in August 2006. She had inherited the house and land after her husband died more than 30 years ago.
Mr Heaslip continued to live in the house and farm the land but relations broke down and she sought the court order.
She claimed that her son had not been paying the lease and that she had tried to resolve the problem.
Mr Crawford and senior clergy members such as Bishop Ken Clarke of Kilmore had intervened to resolve the dispute but the eviction went ahead.
Mr Heaslip had strong support in the locality and was cared for by the community when he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
Eight of his friends were at his bedside when he died at Cavan General Hospital last Thursday.
Yesterday, when contacted by The Irish Times, Mrs Elliot said she would not comment on the case. Her husband, Ernie Elliot, was quoted in yesterday's Irish Daily Staras saying that Mervyn's mother was his next of kin and had the right to decide where he should be buried.
Seymour Crawford said it was "a very tragic case" but he believed that Mr Heaslip should have been buried in Crosserlough because that was his wish.
However, he would not condone the digging up of the coffin. "I think the man has suffered enough in the last few years of his life. He should be left in peace now," he said.
Last night hundreds of people gathered at Drumavaddy Community Centre for an ecumenical remembrance service, concelebrated by Church of Ireland Dean Raymond Ferguson and local Catholic curate Fr Jason Murphy.
"Mervyn lived a contented life on the farm. He was a quiet man whose life changed forever during and after the events of August 2006," said Fr Murphy.