Photographs show a huge gathering of mourners descending on a cemetery for a Traveller's funeral despite Covid lockdown rules.
A police investigation has been launched after 300 people arrived in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrum in Ireland, for a two-day funeral celebration for Davey Reilly.
The majority of attendees had reportedly arrived in British and Northern Irish-registered cars for the burial on Thursday, which followed a funeral in St Mary's Church
Ireland's Health Service Executive Paul Reid, who lives in the town, criticised the scenes, reports the Irish Mirror.
He said: “The public has taken so many restrictions on board, they’ve made so many sacrifices and it’s pretty demoralising to see such abuse of public health guidance and measures particularly for the people of Leitrim who have been doing really well on the very low cases throughout this Covid.”
Mr Reid said public health teams are regularly "giving guidance" to funeral directors, and has called out to priests to "keep their diligence".
However, he admitted: “It’s a really difficult time for people at funerals and grieving, it’s very difficult at this point in time."
The initial service went ahead with a reduced number of people before huge crowds arrived for the burial.
Gardai were forced to turn cars away from the cemetery but mourners instead began gathering on foot in a local car park before walking up to the graveyard.
A large white marquee had been erected at a home in the town the day before the funeral.
Under Ireland's Level 5 lockdown, attendance at funerals is limited to just 10 close family for the church service and burial.
Local councillor Enda Stenson said it's the second large Traveller funeral to take place in Carrick-on-Shannon in recent weeks.
He said: “It’s not right that people in a rural part of the country who have done 12 months of lockdown have to deal with this."
The councillor said attendees to such large gatherings have "rode roughshod over everybody" with guidelines being "thrown completely out the window".
“I have to say that the Travelling community in Carrick-on-Shannon have always got on very well here but today was crazy," he added.
A police spokesperson said: “Gardaí are aware of a funeral that took place in Carrick-on-Shannon Co. Leitrim on March 10 and 11, 2021.
“A number of breaches of the regulations in respect of travel have been detected. This operation is ongoing.
“An Garda Síochana liaised with the relevant parties and is not investigating any breaches in respect of the church element of this funeral.
“An Garda Síochána will carry out an investigation into the organisers of any event which is in breach of the public health regulations.”
Co-director of Dublin-based Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre Martin Collins said there is “no excuse” for flouting Covid safety measures.
He said: “Quite frankly this is just not acceptable for anybody settled or Traveller to be in breach of the guidelines.
“As a Travelling man I understand the importance of funerals in our community but customs and traditions have to take a back seat."
He added that care must be taken to avoid these incidents becoming "another stick to beat Travellers with" and breaches of restrictions have happened "in all sections of society".
