The Archbishop of Dublin is drafting new guidelines for funerals after it was revealed how a mother was asked for a ticket to her son’s funeral.
David Redmond, 34, passed away after suffering a heart attack at his home in East Wall in North inner-city Dublin on August 20.
The grieving family was left distress after their mother was initially refused entry to her son’s funeral because she didn’t have one of 50 tickets that were issued because of the pandemic.
No webcam was available in the church to live stream David’s funeral mass for his friends and family and the priest did not attend his burial afterwards.
In correspondence with the Redmond family recently, Monsignor Eoin Thynne from the Archbishop’s office told the family it was “regrettable” that the family had to “endure further upset during this time of loss and sadness”.
He added that the Redmond family had presented the parish with “an opportune moment to draft guidelines for the celebration of funerals by funeral teams”.
“Clarification obviously is required and will be of great benefit to many parishes in the diocese.”
Msgr Thynne also thanked them for “bringing to my attention and the attention of Archbishop Farrell your concerns.”
David’s sister Leah set up a petition highlighting her concerns following the funeral saying the service had been “ruined” by the events.
While her family accept that the restrictions were part of Covid guidelines, they felt the service was “cold” and that David had been forgotten.
