Undertakers fear post-Brexit restrictions may delay burials

The fear of possible restrictions between Northern Ireland and the Republic post-Brexit is causing considerable anxiety in the Border area.

There is concern any impact on movement between the two jurisdictions would bring back memories of the North’s troubled past when checkpoints and customs posts were part of the landscape.

Undertaker Patsy McCauley from Belleek, a small village on the Fermanagh/Donegal border, remembers a time when funerals were delayed by up to 24 hours due to the Troubles.

Detours

“Back then there were only two roads leading into where we needed to go in Belleek and when they were closed because of the Troubles we had to travel into

Ballyshannon

in Donegal to get to the homes of the deceased. It meant a detour of 10 miles each way, an extra 20 miles, just to get back into the North. You had to go through the customs post as well,” he explained.

“And to lay a person from the Republic to rest in the North you had to get documentation from the South and you had to get it cleared from the customs. You had to have all that completed to hand it into the customs . . . before you could go about your business.”

Mr McCauley fears a return of restrictions when Britain formally leaves the EU.

“It was very inconvenient for people at the time. Never again would I like to see that happening. I hope those days don’t come back because the danger is that this would delay funerals,” he said.

Undertaker Johnny McKeegan from Enniskillen shares Mr McCauley's concerns.

"I would do a lot of burials and cremations in Co Cavan. They are very handy to do because of the roads, you know [instead of having to travel to Belfast]. For cremations, we have a shorter journey, less paperwork, a coroner to deal with in Belfast, one in the South of Ireland and that's it.

“At the minute if we go to Belfast we have two different doctors involved, justice of the peace involved, and all the paperwork has to be brought to Belfast to get the okay to go. If we go to Cavan we only need clearance from the coroner who issues us with an out of jurisdiction order,” he said.

Mr McKeegan, like many others, is frustrated at the lack of clarity since the referendum.

Unanswered questions

“How will it affect us? This is what we don’t know. Are they going to put any restrictions in our way to make life difficult for us? Getting stopped would be very embarrassing and upsetting for families, to see a funeral cortege stopped to one side, and not know what they are going to do: are they going to send you back or allow you to go on? Are they going to leave it that a funeral is going to be delayed for hours and hours, or days and days? We don’t know.”

Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feely recalled how funeral corteges were stopped and delayed "considerably", and hearses occasionally searched, when a "hard Border" was in place.

“In the past even funerals crossing the Border were the subject of checks at customs, and in particular during the years of the Troubles the security forces were known to interfere with them also. We hope that these days remain in the past and that Brexit does not result in a new hard Border.

"The challenges arising from the referendum could have an impact on multiple sectors. It will only be as talks progress between the British government and the European Union that the full extend of the barriers and inconvenience will become apparent," said the Co Cavan-based councillor.