A Dublin funeral director says they've seen some 'absolutely heartbreaking' situations while COVID-19 restrictions have been in place.
For almost a year now, there have been strict limits on the numbers of mourners who can attend funerals.
During the first wave only six people could attend a service.
While that was briefly increased to 25 people for a period last year, funerals have again been limited to just ten people during the ongoing lockdown.
As a result, many people have been unable to attend the funerals of friends or family, or have had to turn to livestreams to watch a service.
Mary Cunniffe from Massey Brothers Funeral Directors is also on the board of The Irish Association of Funeral Directors.
She spoke to Newstalk's Henry McKean about some of the heartbreaking situations they've come across over the past year.
She said: “I did a funeral personally for a lady whose mother had passed away, and whose father was in hospital on a COVID ward. She was an only daughter, and she was in New Jersey in the US.
“I was the only person at the funeral with my colleagues. It was very difficult for that girl and her husband and their children, watching it online.
“I did another funeral for a mum and dad, who died within days of each other. Family in Australia, family in Canada… nobody here only one daughter and her family. Heartbreaking… absolutely heartbreaking.”
Mary said another service for a young mother-of-three should have been a "massive funeral" with many friends and family in attendance.
Ultimately only the woman's father, sister, husband and three children were able to attend, with even extended family having to watch from home.
'We had to step right back'
Mary said it's been a particularly 'difficult time' for her profession for an entire year now.
She explained: "We were thrown intro something we had never experienced before.
“I’ve talked to people who’ve been in the business a lot longer than me, and they’ve never come across anything like this before or had to deal with families in such difficult circumstances.
“We had to step right back… our nature as funeral directors is to be all-encompassing in the service we give a family. We were unable to protect them the way we wanted to protect them. This was so unnatural for us and for our profession."
She said funeral directors also have to be very conscious of the needs of their own staff when they were working in such challenging circumstances, in additional to the needs of grieving people going through 'some of the worst days of their lives'.
However, she said members of the public have been 'so wonderful', with people still showing their support in a socially-distanced way during funerals.
