Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht

Policy Issues arising from Cemetery Management Bill 2013: Discussion

2:00 pm

Mr. David Pierce:

Sorry. Some of our colleagues here got an advertising and promotion brochure. They were quoted €1,500 for a quarter of a page.

No monumental sculpture companies took it up, except maybe Glasnevin Trust Monument Works, which is an independent firm. The Competition Authority said it would get Glasnevin to tell customers that the cemetery fee - say, of €1,000 in Glasnevin - was not included in the price of the grave. Unless it includes the price of the foundation in the grave, it is no use to us, given that we still have to tell people it costs €1,000. I see people thinking they will go to Glasnevin to see what deal it can do for them. It is another useless measure by the Competition Authority. Glasnevin Trust Monument Works in all the Dublin City Council cemeteries have 40 to 50 monuments inside the gates of the cemetery. The only thing the Competition Authority can do for us is to insist that either nobody has a display or we all have a display. Otherwise, it is wasting time and taxpayers' money.