May 23 - Cemetery Petition Group “Disappointed” By Ministerial Reply
“In Loving Memory”, the recently formed group which is urging the Government to clean up and improve the maintenance of North Front Cemetery, says that while it appreciates a response from the Minister of Environment to the letter sent on Tuesday 17, 2016, it is “disappointed” with its content.
The group says that the letter’s tone is “dismissive, placating and lacks any urgency to improve the cemetery”.
A statement from the group expands on these criticisms:
“We found Minister Cortes’s response to be completely insufficient for the following reasons:
“1. Refusal to acknowledge that the state of our cemetery is wholly unacceptable.
“2. Only a person completely out of touch with the general public and the numerous local social media forums could make such a statement about not having had any complaints regarding the state of the cemetery since 2012.
“3. He says “there have been a number of improvements over the past few years..” but fails to acknowledge that under his watch the total disrepair in the cemetery has grown – which is surely not down to the number of improvements being made.
“4. The blame on inconsiderate users, staffing changes and contractors is simply not good enough. This should not have been allowed to go on for as long as it has with, in some instances, the elderly and disabled being unable to access graves during and after funerals.
“5. Finally Minister Cortes doesn’t assure us that there will be any radical review or changes to make sure this can never happen to the cemetery again.”
A spokesperson for the group concluded: “Overall, a huge disappointment. We will write Minister Cortes another letter highlighting the inadequacy of his response and urging him to take the petition seriously.”
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