Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 May 2013
142. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 941 and 942 of 16 April 2013, the steps being taken to ensure that there is access to Magdalene graves and ensure the upkeep of Magdalene graves. [21967/13]
View answerThe Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries states that some of the women were buried in graveyards attached to a Magdalen Laundry; others were buried in plots maintained by the relevant Congregation in a public graveyard, while others were taken home by their families for burial in their former home-place.
My Department does not have a direct function in relation to the maintenance of burial grounds or in the supervision of access to them. In the case of public burial grounds, their management and maintenance is the responsibility of the relevant local authorities. Similarly, the management and maintenance of burial grounds owned by religious orders is a matter for those religious orders.
