Bones still strewn around at St Nathi’s

DESPITE claims by a spokesperson for St Nathi’s Church in Dundrum that all human remains left exposed and scattered in the church graveyard have been collected for reburial, The Gazette found that most of the bones remained in situ this week.
Last week, The Gazette reported that bones lay strewn about the graveyard after it was brought to the paper’s attention by a schoolboy from the area, Michael Brady.
This week, a statement made by St Nathi’s parish church to The Gazette said: “Having investigated the situation and having spoken to the gardai, it appears that the recent months of heavy rainfall have caused some soil erosion in the old part of St Nathi’s Parish Church in Dundrum.
“This has resulted in some old remains in the graveyard being exposed. These remains have been collected and secured for preservation, and the local authority’s conservation office has been contacted.
“The parish and local clergy will make arrangements for the re-interment of the remains, following consultation with the local authority.
“The parish and church authorities are grateful that the issue was brought to their attention, and regret any distress caused by the discovery of the bones.”
However, on the same day, The Gazette spoke again to Brady, who said of the statement: “That is trish-trash and an easy excuse. There is still a pile of bones at the end of the graveyard; it’s still the same.
“I think the attitude is just disgraceful. That’s someone’s body just thrown in a corner.”
The Gazette made its own investigations, and visited the graveyard once more on the same day. The claims made by Brady were found to be valid once again, and bones were still visible in several spots around the cemetery.
When confronted with the fact that bones were still lying in the graveyard, the spokesperson for St Nathi’s said: “I’ll ring and see, but that’s what I’ve been told [that the bones had been collected], so I just don’t know. But I believe it was a lot of bones, so maybe they all haven’t been collected yet. I just don’t know.”
Schoolboy Brady was very shaken that the bones were still at the cemetery a week after he had brought the whole issue to light.
He had contacted The Gazette with photos he took at St Nathi’s graveyard when he came upon heaps of what appeared to be human bones in piles and heaped into a plastic bag.
The Gardai were also contacted by Brady and The Gazette.