Controversial plan for cycle route through graveyard scrapped — council opts to remove on-street parking to make way for scheme instead

Families with loved ones buried at a south Dublin cemetery have welcomed the council's decision to reroute proposed cycling infrastructure, opting against building it through the graveyard and instead using space gained by scrapping on-street parking to install the lane.

The controversial plan, proposed by councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, involved lowering the cemetery wall to make the route visible from the main road for the safety of users and running it through the graveyard. However, the idea was opposed by campaigners who called it "disrespectful and ill-thought-out".

Writing on a Facebook page created to oppose the proposal, one local commented on the news the council had scrapped its plan: "The graveyard should be respected as a graveyard and not used as a public park."

Another added: "Our cemetery can stay as it is, peaceful and tranquil for us to visit our loved ones' resting places."

RTÉ reports the news has also been welcomed by campaigners for improved active travel infrastructure, with a majority of councillors supporting a plan to use space gained by scrapping on-street parking to install the segregated cycle lane instead.

This latest proposal is the third iteration, the graveyard plan itself following the original idea to reduce the traffic to one-way to make way for the lane, also opposed by locals and traders who said it would lead to diversions and delays.

Chairing Monday's county council meeting, councillor Mary Hanafin thanked residents for their input to the consultation.

"It was a very very sensitive issue," she said. "At no stage did anybody seek to cause hurt or dismay or distress to anybody. People [were] doing a job, coming up with a plan and I hope that nobody would feel that in any way people set out to upset you. Naturally cemeteries, by their very nature, are very very sensitive and very important to families.

"Thank you to those of you who contacted us and for sharing your personal stories which is not easy. The positive side is that you succeeded in not getting a cycle lane through the cemetery, which is very important.

"We will now have a two-way cycle lane which completes the active schools project. Three different programmes, 20 kilometres and 65 schools who now have access to safe routes to school."