Longford Muslim community hit out at lack of burial grounds

The lack of a designated cemetery for Longford’s Muslim community has caused upset this week after it emerged two local families were forced to travel outside of the county to hold funeral services for their loved ones in recent days.

A young couple tragically lost their stillborn child and a second family who suffered the bereavement of an elderly relative were left with no option but to arrange separate burials in Dublin and Mayo respectively due to the anomaly.

The controversy, which has caused much angst and exasperation within the local muslim populace is being blamed on an “administrative glitch” which had seen Longford County Council agree to assign two plots of land in Edgeworthstown and Newtownforbes for the purposes of burials and funeral related services.

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Dr Syed Ali, head of the local Islamic community, claimed a deal had been struck with the Council some three years ago only for those acceptances to effectively come unstuck when the details surrounding the bereavements of two local families broke over the past number of days.

“Three years ago, me and my committee had a meeting in Longford County Council where we told of how the  community is increasing all the time and we have our mosque, lots of facilities which we have in Longford town but the only thing that was missing was the graveyard,” he said.

“We have nowhere for the muslims because now there are so many old people living in the town and we needed and still need a place urgently.”

Dr Ali said another factor which weighed heavily on his mind and those of his fellow committee members was the vast amounts in repatriation costs demanded on local families alongside the teachings of the Koran which requires burials to be conducted as soon as possible.

He claims after a second meeting with the council land in both Edgeworthstown and Newtownforbes were signed off on with Dr Ali himself relaying the news to muslims at a Friday prayer service.

“Then, around two months ago, there was an unborn baby that died which was stillborn and we obviously looked to bury the child in the cemetery,” said Dr Ali, who proceeded to advise the child’s father of how to go about arranging a burial plot.

“I told him you have to ring the council, to speak to them and do some paperwork and then you can bury the baby in Longford or Edgeworthstown but when he did he was told that they (Council) had no idea what he was talking about at all.”

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With no place in which to lay his child to rest, the man eventually resorted to holding a service in Dublin at considerable expense and personal anguish, according to the local GP.

To make matters worse, a similar scenario played out only last week when the long serving doctor told of how the family of an elderly woman in Longford had to rely on the support of Mayo County Council to conduct a funeral and burial service in Ballyhaunis.

“Again the whole community was angry with me because they said ‘Look you organised this, but now we don’t know where to bury our loved one’,” said Dr Ali.

In a hard hitting and impassioned plea to the power brokers inside Longford County Council, Dr Ali said despite confessing to feeling “extremely upset, angry and very disturbed” at the situation, the plight facing Longford’s muslim populace was grave.

“I would like to request humbly with dignity that we are also part of this community and anything can happen to us as it can to the local community. We are not looking for two, three or four places, all we are asking for is one place where we can bury our own people too,” he said.

In a statement, Longford County Council confirmed discussions had taken place in August and September 2014 between members of the Muslim Community and Longford County Council over the issue but that the matter was not forwarded to Strategic Policy Committee level for formal approval.

“Longford County Council are amenable to holding discussions with the Muslim Community regarding burial of members of their Community, in conjunction with the local Cemetery Committees and local representatives,” the local authority added.

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