Funeral Restrictions Still In Place Despite Merrion Gate Fiasco
Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín, has called out the continued restriction and disruption of funerals and anniversary services by Covid-19 restrictions unacceptable, and has called on the government to show their compassion and end these draconian restrictions.
An Teachta Tóibín: “This not the first time that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been called out over their tone-deaf management of funerals. The restrictions imposed mean grieving loved ones have to essentially decide who loved the deceased enough to be allowed go to the funeral? Right now there are only 50 allowed attend a funeral, with restrictions on gatherings after the funeral further hampering people’s abilities to bury the ones they love. The government cannot keep imposing these harmful and painful restrictions on grieving loved ones. Especially since the funerals can be held compliant with wearing masks, socially distanced, doors and windows open in a massive church and with many outside. Many families who lost loved ones at the start of the pandemic, who were unable to give them a proper funeral, were known to console themselves with the idea that they could do something moving to mark the first anniversary. Many of those first anniversaries have now come and gone with significant restrictions still in place. When will this government get out of the way of people grieving?”
“The government consistently fails to think of the human cost of these restrictions. 18,000 people were in Croke Park for the Leinster SFC final, but only 50 are allowed gather to bury a loved one? The Merrion Gate fiasco underlines how illogical all this is. The message to government is this: stop asking grieving families and loved ones to choose who can or cannot attend a funeral. It is arbitrary, it is painful, and in a time when we have lost far too many to Covid-19, it is wholly out of place.”
