A Dublin local authority allegedly permitted a woman to exhume her father’s remains without consulting other children of the deceased, the High Court has heard.
Charlotte Farrell-Quin allegedly did not disclose to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that she was one of five living children of the late Gerard Farrell when she sought permission to exhume his remains from Deansgrange Cemetery last November, Ms Farrell-Quin’s brother Paschal Farrell claims in his High Court action.
In the proceedings brought against the local authority, Mr Farrell claims that he, along with other siblings, were not made aware of his sister’s application for exhumation to the council. They were further unaware of the subsequent exhumation of Gerard’s remains and reinterment at a cemetery in Ashford, Co Wicklow, where Ms Farrell-Quin resides.
In a sworn statement, Mr Farrell says that had he been aware of his sister’s application, he would have objected “in the strongest possible terms”. He says it is “incomprehensible” that the local authority would allow the exhumation without his knowledge, and states that the exhumation has caused him extreme distress.
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Mr Farrell, of Millers Wood, Bray, Co Wicklow, has brought a challenge against Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s purported decision to grant an exhumation licence to Ms Farrell-Quin – a notice party in the proceedings – in respect of the remains of their father, who died aged 77 years in August 2009. Two of Mr Farrell’s other sisters are seeking to be joined as applicants in the proceedings.
In certain circumstances, permission for exhumation of human remains is granted by local authorities in the form of an exhumation licence.
On Monday, Mr Justice Garrett Simons gave permission to Mr Farrell’s counsel Frank Crean SC, appearing with Brendan Hennessy BL and instructed by Benville Robinson solicitors, to bring the judicial review proceedings against Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The application was granted with only Mr Farrell’s side represented.
In his affidavit, Mr Farrell says his mother Margaret purportedly signed a document in 2022 stating her wish to be cremated and interred in Killoughter Graveyard in Ashford, and her husband to be exhumed and reinterred with her. This document was not witnessed, Mr Farrell says.
Margaret, who died in May 2023 aged 89 years, lived with Ms Farrell-Quin and her family in Ashford for the final 18 months of her life, Mr Farrell says.
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“Unhappy differences” within the family meant Mr Farrell and his other siblings were not permitted to visit their mother, Mr Farrell says, and he was not informed of his mother’s death or funeral.
Mr Farrell says it “beggars belief” that his father would have consented to a temporary burial at Deansgrange, only for one of his children to move him to an “unknown” and “unkempt and rural” cemetery in Killoughter.
Mr Farrell says in 1984 his mother bought the plot in Deansgrange where Gerard was ultimately buried “with every intention” of being interred there in proximity to her parents and grandparents.
At least three generations of Gerard and Margaret’s families are buried at Deansgrange, Mr Farrell says.
It is Mr Farrell’s case that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council did not take any steps requiring Ms Farrell-Quin to verify claims made in her application for an exhumation licence, nor did it take steps to identify the deceased’s next of kin.
It is alleged that Ms Farrell-Quin did not disclose that she was one of five living children of the deceased in her application to the council, and stated that no objections were raised to the exhumation.
Mr Farrell says he has not been informed by the council on what basis the exhumation licence was granted.
Mr Farrell is seeking various reliefs, including an order quashing Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s purported decision to grant an exhumation licence to Ms Farrell-Quin.
Although the exhumation has already taken place, the applicant siblings want to “have their say before the decision maker” at the local authority, Mr Crean said on Monday.
The case returns to court next month.
