AN Alliance MLA has called for a halt to construction at a Belfast cemetery over fears it will disturb unmarked graves where her three stillborn siblings are buried.
Nuala McAllister has said she is concerned that work at Milltown Cemetery could disrupt mass baby graves.
The BBC report the work is being carried out on land reclaimed by the cemetery from Ulster Wildlife in 2009.
Known as the bog meadows, the area is located on the eastern side of the cemetery, and had been used for many years as a mass burial site for stillborn babies, those who took their own lives or could not afford their own burial plot.
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The cemetery trustees have said the works “will not be located in proximity to known burial sites.”
Ms McAllister has said her family cannot be certain where her siblings are buried, but believe three could be buried on the land.
She explained that after her mother lost a baby boy at birth and twins during pregnancy, the bodies had been taken to Milltown.
The works include the construction of new drainage and pathways on the land reclaimed in 2009.
The trustees maintained they had “complete confidence” the work would now be “located in proximity to known burial sites.”
Ms McAllister commented: “Unless there is full transparency with everything that is going on, I have no confidence.
“When it comes to how we deal with the past, the way in which the Catholic Church, in particular, dealt with women in childbirth, with stillborn babies, I am yet to be convinced that everything that is going on here has had the correct analysis.”
