Quick answer. Some Irish council cemeteries only accept human remains. If you want to bury your pet’s ashes with a loved one’s ashes, ask the cemetery or graveyard to confirm in writing whether it allows this in the specific grave.
What do Irish cemetery rules say about pet ashes?
In the Republic of Ireland, a burial ground may be run by a local authority, a parish or a community group. Local authorities can set cemetery byelaws. If you are unsure who manages the graveyard, Local Government Ireland's burial grounds guide explains who to contact.
Wexford County Council's burial ground bye-laws limit interments to human remains. Kildare County Council's cemetery byelaws limit interments to human remains, including cremated human remains. These rules apply to the burial grounds covered by each council's byelaws. For a parish graveyard or another cemetery, ask for its own rules.
Can you add pet ashes to an existing family grave?
Give the cemetery office or caretaker the grave number, if you have it, and say whose ashes are already there or will be interred there. Explain that you are asking about cremated pet remains. If the grave is approved for an additional interment of human ashes, ask separately whether it may receive a pet's ashes.
If the family is planning ahead, ask whether the cemetery can record the request and who can authorise the arrangement when the time comes. Our guide to urns and ashes in Irish cemeteries explains how families can check the arrangements for an existing grave.
Can pet ashes go in the same urn or in a coffin?
Ask which arrangement the burial ground will accept. Two sealed urns in one grave, a shared urn with separate compartments and ashes mixed in one container are different requests. Keep the ashes separate while you check. Once mixed, they may be impossible to separate.
If you want to place the pet's ashes inside a coffin for burial, explain that to the funeral director and ask the cemetery about that placement specifically. If the coffin is going to a crematorium, ask the funeral director to check the crematorium's rules for what may go inside it.
What to ask the cemetery before making arrangements
- Does this grave accept pet ashes? Give the grave details and say whether you want the ashes interred together or at different times.
- Who can authorise the arrangement? Ask whether the plot holder must sign and whether the cemetery needs any paperwork from the pet crematorium.
- What container would you accept? Check if a separate sealed urn is required and ask for the permitted materials and maximum outside dimensions.
- Can you confirm the decision in writing? Ask about any fee and keep a copy with the paperwork for the grave.
If the cemetery approves a separate urn, choose from pet urns for ashes using the measurements and material it accepts. For burial in the ground, confirm that the particular urn is suitable for that purpose.
Other ways to remember a person and their pet
If the graveyard cannot accept the pet's ashes, you could keep their urn at home beside a photograph of them together. The NSPCA Memorial Garden in Rathfarnham, Dublin also offers engraved plaques for people who would like a place to remember a pet. A small piece of pet ashes jewellery is another way to keep a little of the ashes close.
