Parishioners have been left sickened and disgusted after bags of rubbish were callously dumped in the grounds of St Patrick’s Cemetery in Armagh.
And Fr Barry Matthews, Administrator of St Patrick’s Cathedral Parish, is at a loss to understand the mindset of those responsible.
But one thing of which he is certain is that the culprits knew the area, describing it as a “well-planned and orchestrated operation”.
Multiple bags of waste and other items at random were dumped down a hill, where the cemetery backs on to Desart Lane.
A microwave, a fan, carpets and mats – even a surgical collar for a dog – all were among the numerous items thrown out with neither thought nor consideration.
Fr Matthews, speaking to Armagh I today (Thursday) said: “Cemeteries are places where we lay our loved ones. We don’t want to think that they’re going to be used as skips.”
Environmental health at Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council has been informed of the incident, which happened within the past few days, in the hope that officials can help.
But at this stage, it is unclear when – or by who – the rubbish will be cleared away.
Fr Matthews said: “There are items which I imagine will have names on it, but I can’t actually access it because it’s down a hill, so it’s halfway down and it’s halfway up. I went over but I just couldn’t access it today.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to get it cleared up. That in itself will be a job, just in the logistics of it. It’s on quite a nasty slope and it’s stuck between briars and brambles so it just won’t be easy.”
The Parish Administrator believes that those behind the dumping have used a trailer and have obviously been “having a clear out”.
It is, fortunately, not a regular occurrence.
“You would get people that would use the bins for household rubbish the odd time, but we’ve sort of dealt with that and put in place measures to stop that,” explained Fr Matthews.
But this latest episode has left a sour taste in the mouth for everyone.
“I can’t even imagine that anyone would think that’s acceptable behaviour,” said Fr Matthews. “This is a cemetery. This is a place where we lay are dead, our love ones. It’s a sacred space.
“Even the thought that someone would intentionally do this… It’s not like they were just passing. You had to intentionally go into the graveyard and know where you were going. It’s clearly someone who knows the layout of the graveyard, because they know that there’s a turning area there, and they’ve taken down a bit of fence in the process to do it.
“This was a well-planned and orchestrated operation.
“It’s literally a couple of hundred yards away from the recycling centre, the civic amenity centre. Why you would choose not to go to the recycling centre and dump it in the graveyard instead? I just don’t know.”
The incident has also caused great annoyance to those tasked with maintaining the cemetery, while anyone who witnesses dumping of this nature taking place is asked to “report it immediately”.
“It’s not nice and it’s not something we want to be dealing with,” added Fr Matthews. “Our groundsmen keep the cemetery so well and genuinely take such great pride in the cemetery, because they know that this is more than just a piece of land.
“It’s the resting place for the people of Armagh. It’s just very disappointing when you see it being treated like that.”
