Council bosses could face a bill of thousands of euro to revamp plans for an extension to a graveyard after being informed that their original idea would have seen bodies being buried facing the wrong way.

Leading clergymen, locals and religious experts all believe Kildare County Council has lost the plot in its efforts to extend the cemetery at Rathangan.

The tradition in the Catholic Church is that bodies are interred facing eastwards.

However, the council's plans would have seen the dead buried facing to the south.

Local man Eamon Broughan was the first to raise the issue - and he enlisted some high-powered help to aid his argument.

"I spoke to my local bishop Denis Nulty and the primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin and also to burial experts in Glasnevin cemetery, and all of them confirmed to me graves should face eastward," he said.

Mr Broughan's call has been backed by Dr Suzanne Mulligan, a moral theologian at St Patrick's Seminary in Maynooth, who outlined the reason for burying bodies facing east.

She explained: "The reasoning behind it is that we believe Jesus will rise again like the rising sun which rises in the east, therefore the graves face east."

Mr Broughan said he is baffled by how the council came to the decision in the first place.

"Who in Kildare county council has made that decision, that's what I want to know, and will they now consider changing their plans to ensure the graves face east in accordance with our faith and the long-standing Catholic tradition?" he said.

A council spokesperson said that many factors were considered.

"In general, Kildare County Council designs cemetery extensions to maximise available space. Such works are always costly, especially in urban areas where land costs will be expensive," a spokesperson said.

"Cemeteries are designed in a lawn-type layout with headstones back to back, specifically in Rathangan the orientation will therefore be north/south and south/north.

"However, we will always be sensitive to any requests and will endeavour to accommodate where feasible."

Mr Broughan has, however, managed to wring one concession from the local authority.

"I met with officials who told me they would be sensitive to my concern and would make arrangements for me that would ensure I face east when my time comes," he added.

Irish Independent