The cost of burial plots in south Dublin is set to increase by a third next year while the cost of a cremation plot is set to rise by 80 per cent.
South Dublin County Council voted yesterday to increase the cost of plots from January 1st for the second year in a row.
The cost of a single burial plot will increase by a third from €1,800 to €2,400. This is a doubling of the cost since 2011.
The cost of a double burial plot will also increase by a third from €3,600 to €4,800. A cremation plot will increase from €550 to €1,000. The 12 other burial ground charges are frozen for 2013. The cost of an Islamic plot, which doubled last year, will not increase.
“This is nowhere near the cost of recovery and brings it closer in line with other councils,” Labour councillor Dermot Looney said last night. He said councillors had negotiated last year to bring the price increases in over two years rather than one by diverting council funds into burial charges.
“This service operates at a significant loss despite recent and proposed price increases,” the council noted as it released the figures yesterday.
South Dublin County Council ran a deficit of €850,000 on the maintenance of its graveyards in 2012. This measure is expected to reduce this by almost a third to a €590,000 deficit in 2013, according to figures released by the county council.
There were 600 burials in council cemeteries last year and 70 advanced purchases.
“This is not what we wanted, but we tried to protect the vulnerable with a windows replacement programme and library services,” Mr Looney said.
The council will increase the library service budget by some €500,000 in 2013 while some €60,000 in councillor conference expenses will be diverted to repairing windows of local authority homes.
Labour, Sinn Féin, Fine Gael and some Independents voted for the budget while Fianna Fáil voted against it.
Fianna Fáil councillor Trevor Gilligan said although rates for businesses stayed the same in this budget, they were still “way too high”.
