AN MLA has called for an urgent halt to ongoing work in Milltown Cemetery over concerns that unmarked baby graves will be disturbed.
North Belfast MLA Nuala McAllister believes her siblings are buried in the cemetery which is home to hundreds of mass graves, most of them infants who were buried there from the 1930s to the 1990s.
Nuala said her mother was previously informed that her stillborn son and the twins she lost during pregnancy could be buried in Milltown Cemetery.
Many have been in touch re: Milltown cemetery baby graves. There are many personal stories that touch this issue & others.
— Nuala McAllister MLA (@NualaMcAllister) March 31, 2024
We know the way in which women were treated before & after loss of a child was shameful. Thanks to all who've shared, your voices shall not be forgotten.
The land in question was previously leased to Ulster Wildlife in 2000 but was taken back by the Diocese of Down and Connor in 2009 after the extent of the unmarked burials was discovered.
CONCERN: Nuala McAllister MLA has called on the work to stop
Ms McAllister has called on the trustees of the cemetery and the Department for Communities to halt the ongoing work at the cemetery. The Department for Communities had permitted the digging of test trenches to establish whether any unmarked and previously unrecorded burials were present in this area.
“I, alongside many others I’ve met whose deceased family members may be affected, remain extremely concerned with the risk that this work is disturbing these unmarked graves," said Ms McAllister.
“I am calling on the Catholic Church and the Department for Communities to urgently halt this work to allow for transparent and independent analysis of the ground in question, so that the families impacted can have confidence that the remains of their loved ones will not be disturbed.
“Since this story was reported, I have had a number of people getting in touch with similar concerns that their relatives may too be affected. I’m acutely aware of the pain this may be dredging up for many people and families here, and I want to assure everyone that I will not be letting this issue rest.”
The Trustees of Milltown Cemetery have said that the upgrading of drainage and pathways was essential and their archeological team had commissioned a report to assure people burials had not been disturbed.
"In November 2023, the trustees therefore secured the professional services of Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd to investigate this section of the cemetery along the line of paths requiring extension and to investigate potential existing drains or paths long overgrown," a spokesperson for the trustees said.
GRAVES: An image of the report produced by the archeological team employed by the Diocese 
"Having provided the trustees with a clear and defined boundary of the location of all burial sites, including baby burials, within this section of the cemetery, this extensive archaeological survey assists the cemetery trustees to determine where drains and pathways can now be placed, with the complete confidence that they will not be located in proximity to known burial sites."
