A son of Ryanair founder Tony Ryan is in dispute over a right of way mourners use to access a graveyard.
Shane Ryan’s Kilboy Estate, a Georgian period home and stud farm in Tipperary, introduced security measures limiting access to a burial ground bordering his land. This includes the installation of an electronic mechanical gate, CCTV cameras and opening hours.
“The dead are locked in, and the living are locked out,” one local, Anne Marie Maher, told the Sunday Independent.
Mourners said it feels like they are “under surveillance” when tending graves or paying respects to deceased loved ones.
They claim to have been visited by gardaí and Kilboy Estate’s security team on multiple occasions, alarming some visitors.
They feel let down by gardaí, the Data Protection Commissioner and the county council with the saga at an impasse, said Kilboy Burial Ground Committee spokesperson Dr Tom Collins.
“There are options open to the committee but I don’t think we can consider a legal action. This is David versus Goliath. The committee has €700 in its account, and if costs were awarded against us we couldn’t afford it.
“We would be happy if control of access was in public hands,” he added #Ryanair#Entertainment News
Oh
you
We have a lock on the gate here, you know, and really our access is restricted.
And it's particularly restricted in my dad's time now, he was quadrupedic,
and we'd have to go through great rounds to go and get a key and come over,
unlock the gate, put a stone to the gate, then take him in and get him out,
and then lock up the gate and then take back the key.
So there was a whole scenario of just hopping in for a few minutes.
week before my wife's anniversary the guards asked me to come in so I met the
superintendent and she told me she's sorted. I knew it would never happen.
Very uncomfortable. It just puts you off coming in here. I know two people
that won't come in here anymore really even though they're one family have
relations in here. I think it's the fact that I don't have the freedom just to
walk in to see my people. You know you might only have a few minutes you drive
by and you know you have to come to greyhounds to unlock a gate if you want to
drive in and then press a button and the gate is restricted there's a time
slot on the gate.
this community have been let down by Tipperary County Council in the first instance.
I very much see this as a County Council burial ground and I think that the County Council
need to protect the interests here of the people.
And this isn't just a patch of ground with nice landscaping around it.
The people here all have stories to tell.
Some of them are tragic deaths, some of them are much loved parents and children who passed
away, some too young.
I just see this as a huge injustice.
You know what, it's almost futile what's going on here.
To think that you have to go down the road, look for permission to get a key, to come
into a graveyard, to visit a loved one's grave.
Moreover, I see, I believe there is an absolute right of way here all the way into the gate
and all the way to visit your loved one's grave.
A right of way in my book, I've never heard anyone legally say otherwise, is 24-7 any
day of the year when you wish to visit a grave.
