Editorial: A second crematorium is opening in Northern Ireland, and such a facility is long overdue

Roselawn offers cremation slots every 40 minutes from early morning until evening. Services that accompany the removal of the coffin are typically confined to half that time. Despite the efforts to accommodate as many families as possible and in the most efficient way, there is still typically a wait of up to a fortnight before a slot is available.

Next week a second crematorium is due to open, as we report on page 13. The £5m facility in Antrim and Newtownabbey will begin operating on Monday on the Doagh Road.

Northern Ireland has had been able to delay the building of crematoriums, and indeed the opening of new cemeteries, because we have only a fraction of the population density of England. It has three times more people per square mile than we do, and therefore much greater pressure on space. While the great majority of the 60 or so people who die in Northern Ireland every day are still buried, in England about 80% of deaths lead to a cremation.

The Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Mark Cooper, says the new crematorium "will provide a crucial service for families across all of Northern Ireland".

It certainly will. It should also in time lead to longer time slots for services to remember the lives of the many people who on death are now cremated.

Once there was a degree of Christian opposition to cremation. Now there is very little of that. Burial, however, is still likely to be more popular in Northern Ireland for many years to come, perhaps decades. We do still have plenty of land for that in the province but new cemeteries will also be needed.