New Legislation Desperately Needed on Cillini

Following is an update on the cillini in Ireland, in particular, the Bog Meadows project. Parents and relatives are currently ignored by the Catholic Church and are unrepresented by society in general.

These sites are fragile and as history has demonstrated, easily destroyed as they usually remain unmarked in the landscape; the location is often remembered only by those who actually buried those babies in Cillini and the grieving parents of the babies.  

In the case of Milltown (as with other Catholic cemeteries across Ireland) those who were not baptised were considered to be unworthy of remembrance and assigned to an unmarked shallow grave in unconsecrated grounds, or mass Poor Ground graves, many times with hundreds of babies in one grave.

One of the main issues to be contended with is the fact that Catholic Cemeteries are private burial grounds, and as such are outside the legal legislation governing the management of council cemeteries.  This effectively allows the church complete autonomy to act as they wish without any regulation. We need new legislation that addresses all the issues surrounding burial practices.