A week-long dispute over the ownership of a grave has meant that the body of a Kerry woman cannot be buried and is still lying in a Tralee funeral home. Negotiations are continuing among her family to decide where she is going to be interred.
Mrs Mary O'Hara, Dreenagh East, Ballyheigue, who died on Wednesday of last week, had expressed her wish in a letter to funeral director Mr Patrick Gleasure on September 30th, 1996, to be buried with her husband as it was "always their intention to be buried together".
However, minutes before she was to have been buried last Friday, the grave, which had been opened, was filled in.
At the end of the funeral Mass, the parish priest, Father Tom Pierse, announced unexpectedly that the burial would be private. There was a Garda presence at both the church and the cemetery and a Garda spokesperson said they were there to prevent a possible breach of the peace.
Mrs O'Hara is survived by her son, Patrick, and four daughters. A statement issued by solicitor Mr Risteard Pierse, on behalf of Mr Patrick O'Hara, said there was "no family dispute, solicitor's correspondence, or proceedings in existence between our client and any of his sisters in relation to the burial of the late Mrs O'Hara. Rather, it appears that two of our client's sisters are and have been asserting ownership of the plot 124 B in Ballyheigue." Mr Pierse added that it was his understanding that an application before Limerick Circuit Court for an injunction on the matter had been unsuccessful. He understood that possible proceedings might now be continued against Kerry County Council. It was hoped that Mrs O'Hara would be buried next week, he said. Efforts to contact other members of Mrs O'Hara's family were unsuccessful yesterday.