Victims of the weekend landslides in Co Mayo are being offered access to counselling services, it was announced yesterday following a visit to the area by the Bishop of Killala, Dr John Fleming. Tom Shiel reports.
After he had conducted a prayer service near Pollathomas graveyard, which has been ruined by a triple flow of mud, stones and uprooted vegetation from the slide, Dr Fleming said the local community was in complete shock and was going to have to live for the rest of their years with the fear of what could or might happen.
Expressing gratitude that no lives had been lost, Dr Fleming said the damage to the cemetery was having a huge effect, not only on the local population but people living all over the world who had relatives buried there.
The bishop g toured the devastated area where a major clean-up is well under way.
Lists of counsellors were distributed to the 100 or so people who gathered for the short prayer service.
Yesterday Mayo County Council announced that a stretch of road from Pollathomas graveyard to the roadway which leads to the Dooncarton Radar Station, would remain closed. The radar base is not deemed to be in any danger from land slippage.