Margaret Keane's grave: Bid to halt Irish epitaph 'discriminatory'

A judgment has found racial discrimination after a family won an appeal to have Irish-only words on their mother's gravestone.

Relatives of Margaret Keane, who is buried near Coventry, wanted to have "In ár gcroíthe go deo" without the translation, "In our hearts forever".

A Church of England court overturned a previous decision on condition of a translation in the Parish register.

It added it was found the effect of the old decision was to discriminate.

Mrs Keane, who died suddenly aged 73 in 2018, is buried in grounds owned by St Giles' Church, Exhall, near Coventry.

The family has said it had been battling to have the gravestone of their choice at the Meadows in Ash Green.

Last year, in a judgement for the consistory court of the Diocese of Coventry, a judge found there was "a sad risk that the phrase would be regarded as some form of slogan".

He ruled it may be seen "as a political statement".

In a written judgment on Wednesday the Arches Court of Canterbury confirmed the previous decision was unreasonable under the common law.

The court stated it was discriminatory on the basis of race as memorials with other untranslated languages including Welsh, Hebrew and Latin appear in the churchyard.

"An assumption seems to have been made that viewers of the inscription... would conclude that it was a political slogan, which we have found not to be based upon evidence or any other rational footing," the three judges said.

Irwin Mitchell said daughter Caroline Newey, who brought the appeal, stated as soon as the judgment was received, she went straight to her mother's "beautiful resting place".

Mrs Newey said: "I was able to sit beside her gravestone and tell her that she is in our hearts forever."

In June last year, the Bishop of Coventry, The Right Reverend Dr Christopher Cocksworth, said he was "deeply saddened whenever people's identity is hurt or offended" and the diocese would "continue to work for reconciliation in our world".

He stated: "I rejoice in the life of this great city with all its linguistic, ethnic, religious and racial richness.

"And I rejoice in the Irish community of Coventry in all its forms and for the life that has flowed into the city through its people and which continues to flourish today."

The bishop also said the "legal procedures of Consistory Courts are outside the control of diocesan bishops".

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