Sir, – Following Dick Ahlstrom’s fine article (Science Today, October 20th), I wonder if there is ever any justification for disturbance to a burial ground. I can recollect quite clearly an elderly grandaunt’s rabid fear of ending her days “on the long stool in the Union”. She was born 30 years after the event!
They were truly places of extreme suffering and human misery. There are few memorials for these forgotten lives.
These Union Workhouse burial grounds are spread right across the country and are well documented, mapped and identified. Naas Local History Group in co-operation with Naas Town Council and Kildare County Council have turned the Naas Union/Famine burial place into a pleasant, respectful and well maintained green area, which is duly marked and consecrated by the memories of generations of Naas and Kildare citizens.
Annually, each November, a small act of remembrance is held. I note similar moves in Mullingar and I am quite sure there are others across the island.
I pose just one question. Do we really need another mercantile arcade? – Yours, etc,