Burial Fees Double The Price At Some Wexford Cemeterys As Councillors Call For Equality

Wexford County Council is being urged to equalise the costs of burials in the county.

Councillors received a report recently summarising the council's Burial Ground Internments and Fees along with Income and Expenditure.

Burial grounds in more rural parts of the county charge around double what it costs to be buried in Wexford and New Ross towns.

Councillor Barbara Anne Murphy says this situation can't continue:

"A single plot in a county council owned cemetery in Bunclody, Rathnure, Ferns, Enniscorthy or Castledockrell, that's €1,000 plus then you pay the undertaker or whoever's digging the grave for the grave opening.

"For that plot in Crosstown, it's €260 and then there's a further €400 grave opening fee.

"In New Ross for that single grave, it's €500 so we're paying double the price in Bunclody than they are in New Ross."

The Enniscorthy Lawn, Crosstown and Bunclody burial grounds demonstrated the highest activity between 2023 and 2025.

Councillor Murphy says the council should ensure a fair price for all:

"It's not that I want the prices in the likes of Crosstown and New Ross to go up, I want it to be equal across the council.

"We're all citizens in this county and we deserve to have equality when it comes to burying our dead.

"It shouldn't cost us more in one council owned cemetery than it does in another."

Councillors have been warned equalising the price of burying someone in cemeterys across the county could result in a drop in the council's revenue.

A draft report of council managed burial grounds recorded an income of 424 thousand euro between 2023 and 2025

Meanwhile over 1 million euro was spent maintaining the grounds by council officials during the same period.

Councillor Murphy says regardless, it's unfair for families to be charged double in some cases:

"If we're getting exactly the same service, a grave under the same rules and the type of care it's going to get, we should be paying the same amount of money."

Council officials told this week's meeting of Wexford County Council says they'll look into the potential consequences of that decision.

Councillor Murphy says it's long before time that the cost issues were addressed:

"The rates are there historically from the time of the town councils but we managed to equalise commerical rates since we almalgamated in 2014 and we should make sure we have the same thing done for our burial grounds."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.