Church urged to consecrate unbaptised burial sites

A renowned Irish songwriter has called on the Church to consecrate the ground at traditional sites where Ireland’s unbaptised children are buried.

Brendan Graham, who won the Eurovision song contest twice with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids’ and ‘The Voice’ in 1994 and 1996, said it would be a massive thing for the Church to do.

The musician wrote a song called Crucan na Bpaiste, which is a place in Maamtrasna, in the Mayo mountains where the graves of unbaptised children are marked only with boulders. Mr Graham used to regularly visit the area, which has beautiful scenery.

“In my mind, I was thinking of the parents who had to bury these children and beauty of the place was irrelevant. The song kind of became a claw in my gut, I just had to write it,” he said on RTÉ’s Sunday with Miriam.

“I think that it would be a massive thing for the Catholic Church to do, all these cilliní around the country, would be to consecrate them because basically when those children were buried they were going to limbo and the parents knew that they’d never be re-united.”

“I think symbolically it would be a huge thing for the Catholic Church to do,” he added.

Crucan na Bpaiste was consecrated on Easter Sunday in 1996 by a local priest, according to Mr Graham, who said the priest felt it was the right thing to do.

He is now calling on Church leaders to follow this lead as a sign of goodwill and healing.