Couple finds baby’s cemetery plot sold for adult graves

A Limerick couple who lost their premature baby son have discovered the plot he was buried in was later sold for adult burials.

No record was kept of the children buried there.

Phil and Paul Walsh lost baby William when he was delivered close to six months into Phil's pregnancy in December 1971.

Mr Walsh brought his son to the city's Mount Saint Lawrence cemetery in a small white box provided by the maternity hospital, and a gravedigger interred the baby in a part of the cemetery known as "The Innocents' Plot".

"I visited the plot a few times after that, but then life moved on. A couple of years ago, I went up again, and I couldn't believe what I saw – there were adult graves where the Innocents Plot used to be," Mrs Walsh told the Limerick Post.

“The last time I was there, the gravedigger had put a crucifix on the wall to mark the plot, but that was gone. There was no sign that any of the babies had ever been buried there.”

Mr Walsh asked a gravedigger what had happened. “He said the plots had been sold for graves, that they needed the money. I asked him where were the babies who were buried there and what he said was terrible. He said ‘they dug them down deep’. I couldn’t believe it”.

Although initially shocked, Mrs Walsh said she had moved to anger and frustration. “It’s been playing on my mind all this time, not just for us but for who knows how many parents who buried children there. How could this happen?”

The cemetery was owned by the Catholic Church and managed by a committee of five trustees, made up of priests of the parishes that used the graveyard. It passed into the ownership of the City Council in 1979.

Following queries to the diocese, Bishop Brendan Leahy called in a retired senior Garda to investigate the issue. He met the Walshes, but Mrs Walsh said they are not happy with the outcome so far.

“He told us there were no records kept at the time and the church’s thinking back then about unbaptised babies was different. That they were in limbo. This is terrible for parents who have children buried there”.

In a statement published in the Limerick Post, the Diocese of Limerick said it would erect a memorial at the plot to honour the memory of infants buried there.

This follows a review of infant burials at the cemetery after the diocese was notified of the Walshes’ experience.

"The matter was brought to the attention of the diocese in late April by the couple, and the review, which was carried out for the diocese by retired Garda chief superintendent Gerry Mahon, was started immediately," the statement said.

Bishop Brendan Leahy said: “While we have not been able to get all the detail we would have wished due to the inadequacy of records, the process has, at least, brought to our attention the burial in consecrated grounds of these infants.

“Arising from this we would like to commemorate these children by placing a memorial in the area where these burials are known to have taken place,” he said.

" We have been in touch with Limerick City and County Council to that end and will meet with them shortly to explore options for this tribute."

Anyone affected by this matter can contact a support line at 083 3979167.