Mr. John Green:

I express my condolences to the Chairman on his recent loss.

I am chairman of Glasnevin Trust. Glasnevin Trust is the business name of the Dublin Cemeteries Committee, established under the Dublin Cemeteries Committee Act 1970, which followed on from the earlier 1846 Act. Glasnevin Trust manages the operations of the cemeteries in Goldenbridge, Glasnevin, Palmerstown, Dardistown and Newlands Cross. It operates solely by reference to the public interest in the provision of burial grounds and cremation facilities, as well as the maintenance of Ireland’s historic national cemeteries at Glasnevin and Goldenbridge. Glasnevin Trust is run by an executive management team and the Dublin Cemeteries Committee. I am joined today by Mr. George McCullough, the CEO of the trust.

Glasnevin Trust manages the burial and cremation, now running at a 50:50 ratio, of approximately 4,000 people annually. This accounts for less than 30% of the burials in Dublin and the immediate surrounding counties. The remainder of burials in the Dublin area are carried out in cemeteries owned, operated and subvented by local authorities or in a few privately run cemeteries.

Glasnevin Trust also maintains and preserves the considerable heritage assets in Glasnevin Cemetery, which has become the focal point for many of the commemorative events for the decade of centenaries. More recently, Glasnevin Trust opened the multi-award-winning Glasnevin Cemetery Museum as a major educational and tourism centre. The museum attracts more than 100,000 visitors annually and is a significant boost to tourism and the economy on the north side of Dublin. At our initiative, DNA Dublin's Northside Attractions has been developed and was launched at the world travel market two weeks ago by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe.

Glasnevin Trust employs more than 100 people in Dublin. Companies owned by the trust also offer florist and monument works services to the bereaved, competing in a market where more than 50 registered monumental sculptor companies and hundreds of flower sellers operate. Glasnevin Trust, in the absence of any other significant development of local authority cemeteries in the Dublin region over the past 30 years, has developed three cemeteries. These are Palmerstown Cemetery in 1978, Dardistown Cemetery in 1990 and Newlands Cross Cemetery in 2000. Simultaneously, it introduced and developed cremation in the Dublin area, establishing the first crematorium, Glasnevin Crematorium Limited, in 1982 and Newlands Cross Crematorium Limited in 2001. Dardistown crematorium is scheduled to open in 2016.

Glasnevin Trust is a statutory and voluntary not-for-profit body, originally established by Daniel O’Connell in 1828. In recent times, Glasnevin Trust, with the invaluable assistance of the Government and the OPW, has overseen the restoration of Glasnevin Cemetery from a dilapidated state to the sanctuary of peace, dignity and reconciliation it is today The trust’s role remains as it was handed down from Daniel O’Connell, to bury people of all religions and none, and to ensure that we bury and cremate the dead with dignity and respect. We believe the ultimate dignity for the deceased is paramount and burial grounds need to be maintained and funded on a sustainable basis. Many burial grounds operated by local authorities can only survive with significant direct financial subvention from the local authority budgets, which in the past year in Dublin and its hinterland amounted to approximately €2.5 million, and throughout the country amounted to some €10.8 million. I have with me the breakdown of these figures.

In addition to providing burial services, Glasnevin Trust has been working closely with the State in playing its part in the decade of remembrance. Glasnevin Trust, true to its mission of serving people from all creeds, beliefs and walks of life, has been central to a number of State commemorative ceremonies. These have ranged from the commemoration of Irish men and women who lost their lives in the First World War, to Collins and Griffith and, just this summer, the State remembrance of the centenary of the burial of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa as the opening centrepiece for the 1916 commemorations. In addition to this is the 100th anniversary of Cumann Na mBan, and a multiplicity of commemorations of national importance are held, on a regular basis, at Glasnevin Cemetery.

This work will continue right through the 1916 centenary commemorations, with a number of major projects scheduled, among them being the necrology wall for 1916-1923.

This will remember, in a totally non-judgmental manner, all who lost their lives during the struggle for independence in the period 1916-1923. In addition, Glasnevin Cemetery will be the site for the opening of the governmental commemorations on Easter Sunday morning 2016. I give this by way of background and explanation as to the role of Glasnevin Trust in the life and history of Dublin and its people since its foundation in 1828.

I will turn specifically to the purpose of this meeting, that is, to elicit views on the policy issues arising from the Cemeteries Management Bill 2013 and related matters. I understand that this is a Private Members' Bill advanced by Deputy Maloney. There are a number of important regulatory issues concerning burials and cremations which have not been addressed in this Bill. For example, Glasnevin Trust has identified the need for a new regulatory structure for cremations in Ireland. At the current time, this area is totally unregulated despite its increasing demand. In Dublin last year, 50% of deceased people were cremated. We have previously engaged with the Government, from Deputy to ministerial level, for cemetery regulation and proper cremation regulation, and we believe this is an area being progressed by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

This Bill, as set out, has a very narrow focus and does not address the broad issue impacting on burial grounds and cremation services. It concentrates solely on a small number of burial grounds, including private burial grounds, private family burial grounds, burial grounds run by a charitable trust, Glasnevin Trust and Jewish burial grounds. Glasnevin Trust, together with Mount Jerome, Mount Venus, Kilmashogue, Dolphin’s Barn, Ballybough and Woodtown, would be covered by the Bill, but all others would be expressly excluded. The Bill proposes to exclude from regulation local authority, ecclesiastical and religious orders’ cemeteries. Thus the Bill, as a matter of fact, proposes to regulate fewer than 10% of the burials in the State and a tiny percentage of all burial grounds.

The policy basis for such a narrow focus has not been made clear. During the Dáil debate on the Bill, certain comments were made about Glasnevin Trust. It it is important that I address them as many are based on a very distorted and selective view of our operations. At the heart of these complaints is a protracted challenge that the trust has faced from an individual monumental sculptor, supported by a minority of those in the monumental industry, who contends that the manner in which Glasnevin Trust regulates the cemeteries we operate is illegal. It has variously claimed that Glasnevin Trust has breached Irish and EU competition law and that the trust was generally operating outside the law. It has brought its case to the European Commission, the Irish Competition Authority, the High Court and the Supreme Court, which have all ruled in our favour. Laterally, following a further complaint to the Competition Authority in 2011, now the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the commission stated that it had a number of concerns and made four recommendations to Glasnevin Trust, all of which have been fully complied with.

In conclusion, I reiterate the absolute commitment of Glasnevin Trust to continue to bury and cremate people, of all denominations and none, with dignity. We will ensure that all of the burial grounds in our care are maintained to the highest standards, so that the families of the bereaved will continue to have a peaceful and compassionate environment in which to mourn and remember their loved ones for generations to come, or as our mission statement says "[T]o preserve the past for future generations".