A Portadown man has called for ABC Council bosses to get their act together and ensure Kernan Cemetery is tidied up and maintained, insisting: “It’s an absolute mess.”
The man, who did not wish to be named, visited the graveyard this week and was shocked that it had been allowed to fall into such a state.
And to back up his words, he took photographs as proof of his protests and in the hope of shaming ABC Council into action.
“I went down there on Tuesday morning and I came back home and I actually sent the photographs and emailed as many councillors and MLAs in Portadown,” he told Armagh I.
“A lot of them have come back over the past few days and I know they’re all fed up themselves. They’re not seeing anything being done by the council over this because they have been at it for the last few months.”
Indeed, the issue of the state of Kernan Cemetery has been raised on multiple occasions at ABC Council meetings over the past few months.
Unsightly weeds sprouting up everywhere.
One senior official even admitted that it had fallen below an “acceptable” standard and apologised.
Despite that, there would appear to have been no visible change.
“It’s such a mess,” added the irate local. “Years ago there used to be a fella in charge of it and it was kept spotless, but now it’s just away to the dogs. It’s just not fair.
Weeds have been allowed to grow out of control around Kernan Cemetery in Portadown.
“My sister’s buried there plus a close friend who died last year is buried there as well.
“There’s just weeds everywhere. Along the kerbs, the weeds are just growing right around the whole graveyard.
“It doesn’t take much for someone to go round with a sprayer and kill them, but it’s actually got to the point where a sprayer would be no good. They’re going to have to be pulled out, the height of some of them.
The state of the cemetery has angered visitors and councillors alike.
“You can see in some of the photographs where the benches are, the weeds around them is unreal.
“If anything it’s got worse. There’s one picture with the grass, they’ve just cut it and it’s all lying in a big pile.
“They keep going on and saying about recruitment, they’re going through a recruitment process, but that’s going on for months now.
“Surely someone should be held responsible for this mess. They have no respect for the dead.
Grass has been cut then left ‘lying in a big pile’
“Most of the councillors have come back to me and said themselves how frustrated they are because they’re not getting anywhere with it.
“First of all, now they need a team to come in and spend a few days at it and get it back to where it is, and then it’ll be a lot easier to keep. As far as I know, I think there’s only one or two and maybe the grave digger trying to run the whole show there.”
The man firmly believed that the council is slipping in its responsibilities and said Kernan Cemetery, in its current state, was “a disgrace”.
And he added: “The councillors, they’re pushing for it, but in my head somebody’s getting paid big bucks high up and they’re not doing their job.”
Ulster Unionist Councillor Julie Flaherty has spoken out on the issue many times and told how she had even fielded complaints from the public while tending to her own son’s grave.
Grass and weeds overgrown with cutting overdue.
“I have eyes in my head, as we all do. We can see the problems down at Kernan,” she said during a committee sitting over two months ago.
“I want to know, can council or somebody outline to me how it is prioritising the upkeep of our cemeteries, to ensure they remain places of dignity and respect, and confirm what support is in place for our staff in this frontline service?
“These are special places for so many of us, and of all the things we do in council, it is not a luxury to have this place maintained. Luxuries are fabulous when we have the time, the staff and the resources. But if we don’t have that, we must – absolutely must – prioritise these core services of our council.
“And given the pressures, we know, we can see, that are on cemetery maintenance, how are we safeguarding standards across these areas?
“I want to know what’s immediately being done to support the essential services and our stretched staff. Furthermore, does the council accept, someone accept, because we can all see it, that cemeteries require a very distinct tailored approach, not one aligned with parks and open spaces?
“I’m not the only one who owns graves in our cemeteries, because we live here and we love this place, and we want it to be the best, but this is an immediate sort-it-out-now issue.
“This is not a criticism of any staff. There are just not enough of them and they cannot run on empty.”
The council’s head of climate, parks and sustainability had apologised for the condition of Kernan, admitting it fell below “acceptable” standards and promising: “I am working very, very closely with my colleagues to try and address this.
“In the immediate, the staff have agreed to do overtime. Now I do know that they are stretched and they are working weekends to facilitate burials and working outside of the borough to ensure that the whole service runs smoothly, but they will be doing overtime in these lovely evenings and over weekends to try and bring the standards back to where they ought to be.”
A seat covered in weeds and overgrown bushes is rendered unusable.
Despite the reassurances given early in May, Councillor Flaherty took to social media mid-June to once again highlight the issue – as our resident has this week – and demand action is taken once and for all.
“Those of us who visit regularly to look after our own loved ones’ spaces have eyes in our head,” she wrote.
“Even the new area I opened as Lord Mayor is in a state – opening stone included!
“We know what the issue is – not enough staff. The staff there are working to ultimate capacity.
“Support the staff and support our precious space.”
