The Irish funeral in the time of coronavirus
PODCAST: Padraic Cawley has been a civil funeral celebrant for a decade and has never experienced anything to compare to the reality of funeral services during the time of Covid-19.
going out in style
Going Out In Style discusses the idea and experience of the funeral; how society treated it in the past and where we will take it into the future. It’s a profound event that affects us all but is usually a taboo subject. The way people approach this moment reflects so much about ourselves, our culture and society.
This series explores our relationship with death, funerals and how we remember our dead.
How to talk about death to those with a learning disability
PODCAST: Irene Tuffrey-Wijne is a Professor of Intellectual Disability and Palliative Care. She talks about ways to share bad news and the importance of communication.
What we can learn from the experience of green burial in Canada
PODCAST: The Green Burial Society of Canada have been striving to quantify what makes a green burial actually ‘green’.
Ireland’s Muslims: the respect, ritual & etiquette of an Islamic funeral
PODCAST: The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland share how the dead are cared for within the diverse Irish-Islamic community.
Banshees, fairies and wakes – old Irish death folklore
PODCAST: The wail of the banshee, unexpected interventions of fairies and farm animals sharing in the sorrows of death – learning about death folklore in Ireland.
How the Irish Hindu community care for their dead loved ones
PODCAST: Hindu death rituals have been practiced for thousands of years and have now been adapted to life in 21st century Ireland.
A young widow’s journey through grief and loss
PODCASTS: Melanie Leamy shares how she has coped with the death of her husband Paul and how grief has changed her experience of living.
Meeting the founder behind a unique artisan range of Irish cremation urns
Podcast: Bob Hamilton shares the story of how he came to set up this special business.
The practicalities of taking care of a loved one after they die
PODCAST: Taking care of a loved one after they’ve died has been the norm ever since there have been people.
Doris Salcedo’s Acts Of Mourning in Irish Museum of Modern Art
PODCAST: Going behind the scenes of a powerful exhibition tackling memorial and loss at the Irish Museum of Modern Art
Why it’s so important for everyone to talk about death
PODCAST: Rebecca Lloyd shares her moving experience of the many death conversations she’s facilitated with the Irish Hospice Foundation.
Re-imagining keening for the 21st century plus the story of AndVinyly
PODCAST: Can lament play a role in modern mental health? And also on the programme, the story of AndVinyly.
The unknown story of asylum seeker deaths in Ireland
PODCAST: Artist, activist and former asylum seeker Vukasin Nedeljkovic has been trying to find out.
Changing the face of end-of-life care in Irish hospitals
PODCAST: Innovative initiative quietly changing the concept of end-of-life care in Irish hospitals.
A Love That Never Dies – sharing the journey of bereaved parents
PODCAST: A very special documentary exploring grief through the powerful stories of bereaved parents.
The extra challenges farming families face after a tragic death
PODCAST: Hearing about the work of EmbraceFARM and the sad story behind its existence.
What’s it like to be a member of a parish funeral team?
PODCAST: Hear the story of Des Nix – part of the dedicated St John the Evangelist Kilbarrack parish team.
Supporting the grieving after a loved one takes their own life
PODCAST: Hearing about the wide range of free confidential supports available from Friends of Suicide Loss.
New study into mortality of homeless people in Dublin
PODCAST: The first time deaths of homeless have been captured in this way using a decade of data.
Is death denied or revived in the 21st century?
PODCAST: Guest Miriam Karrel shares her fascinating new research into Canadian Death Cafés.
The Dinner Party – backup for the bereaved
PODCAST: The story of The Dinner Party where guest Carla Fernandez explains the idea behind this unique get together.
Story of Children’s Grief Centre
PODCAST: The multi-award winning Children’s Grief Centre provides a safe space for children learning to cope with loss and bereavement.
When comics take on death, dying & grief
PODCAST: The comic makers tackling profound subjects in unique, funny and devastating ways. My guest is illustrator and comic-maker Debbie Jenkinson.
Lucie Robson and The Memorial Project
PODCAST: Meet the journalist and curator proposing to hold a photographic exhibition to highlight the horrors of economic suicide.
The ancient Irish traditions behind Halloween
Podcast: The night when the living and the dead share the earth. Exploring what lies behind Halloween or Samhain.
Last Breath – exploring the meaning of death through art
PODCAST: Marie Brett is an artist who deals with the profound themes of loss, death and bereavement in her work. ‘Last Breath’ is her new filmic artwork.
Living with loss – learning how to cope with grief in your life
PODCAST: Grief is universal but it’s also very personal and can be very isolating. It’s important to remember that you are not alone in learning to cope.
Exploring why Day of the Dead is so important across Latin America
PODCAST: Day of the Dead is celebrated across Latin America and not just Mexico — the many cultures and traditions behind Dia de los Muertos.
How water cremation works and why it’s a 21st century green alternative
PODCAST: The story of Resomation – the vision of a man committed to finding an eco-friendly way of dealing with the dead.
What is a funeral revolution? And why you should join it
PODCAST: Meeting the warm and funny founders of the UK’s very first Coffin Club who explain the revolution taking place in the funeral service.
The internet is an online graveyard. Do the dead have a right to privacy?
PODCAST: Learning about the stakeholders of modern grief and how the online world continues to evolve our relationship with death.
Reimagining keening for the 21st century in Ireland’s first workshop
PODCAST: Episode guest Marian Caulfield studies the role of sound in grief. She shares how she came to run Ireland’s first keening workshop.
Story of flat-pack coffins plus navigating state services after a death
PODCAST: In this episode, hearing about the Dutch company Coffin In A Box, and how to access state services after a bereavement.
The company that can preserve the tattoos of the dead
PODCAST: Talking to Kyle Sherwood, founder of Save My Ink Forever. He shares the story of his unusual company.
Orlaith Carmody and her book ‘Without You – Living With Loss’
PODCAST: Sharing the universal experience of grief through personal letters to lost loved ones is the basis of a book in aid of Our Lady’s Hospice.
Ireland’s newest crematorium and first to serve the west
PODCAST: Learning about how to write a eulogy and hearing about Shannon Crematorium, the west of Ireland’s first.
Story of Spike Island and Little Nellie of Holy God
Podcast: The fascinating story of Little Nellie of Holy God – Cork’s unofficial patron saint – and why a small girl who died in 1908 means so much to so many.
A history of how families remember their dead
PODCAST: Behind the scenes of a fascinating exhibition of objects of remembrance in twentieth-century Britain.
Understandings of death in contemporary Ireland
PODCAST: Dr Kevin Myers speaks about his fascinating research into changing attitudes to death in contemporary Ireland.
The funeral directors who look after medical donor bodies
PODCAST: Corrigan and Sons Funeral Directors have been serving families from Camden Street since 1884.
Learning from Sikh traditions around death and funerals
PODCAST: Satwinder Singh shares the rich history and traditions around end-of life in Sikhism.
What you need to know: how to save money on a funeral
PODCAST: The Funeral Consumers Alliance explain ways to create an affordable and dignified funeral.
Part two of Grief Demystified with Caroline Lloyd
PODCAST: When grief is traumatic and how you can be literally heartbroken.
Part one of Grief Demystified with Caroline Lloyd
PODCAST: Helping the bereaved and those who support them to understand the process of grief.
The dying art and craft of traditional Irish gravestones
PODCAST: Meeting the makers at one of the few traditional businesses left in Ireland.
Story of death & life in Dublin’s tenements
PODCAST: Tragically death was a familiar visitor to Dublin’s impoverished tenement-dwelling families.
Exploring Amsterdam’s fascinating Funeral Museum
PODCAST: Going behind the scenes of Tot Zover, the Funeral Museum of Amsterdam.
Does a cemetery have rights to build over old ‘poor graves’?
PODCAST: Exploring the planning controversy with Dublin’s history Glasnevin Cemetery.
Death Café movement and studying grief and loss in the marginalised
PODCAST: Meeting academic Jennifer Moran Stritch to talk about grief and loss in the marginalised.
What do you say to a grieving child at Christmas?
PODCAST: Brid Carroll from The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network shares practical advice.
Why shouldn’t you have a wake for a beloved animal companion?
PODCAST: Pets are family. Meet the man whose business provides a space for animal wakes.
What’s your funeral song? The story of My Last Soundtrack
PODCAST: Have you ever thought about what you’d like to have played at your funeral?
The incredible Katie Williams and her Kiwi Coffin Club
PODCAST: The innovative and creative New Zealand club that brings together seniors via DIY coffins.
Forum 2017: death, dying and bereavement in Ireland
PODCAST: Recorded at the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Forum 2017 event in Dublin Castle.
The unique and fascinating history of the Irish Funeral
PODCAST: Hear about the origins of the Irish Wake, the ancient practice of keening and rural funeral ‘games’.
How to really help a work colleague who is bereaved
PODCAST: Breffni McGuiness shares practical advice and helpful tips to make your workplace safe for grief.
Irish Hospice Foundation reveal what Irish want at end-of-life
PODCAST: What do the people of Ireland think about death? Results of the first nationwide survey revealed.
Answering your questions about cremation
PODCAST: Going behind the scenes at one of Dublin’s historic crematoriums to see what happens.
The Irish charity helping those bereaved by homicide
PODCAST: Sharon Mitchell shares her story of losing her son to homicide and how she found AdVIC.
How do you tell someone that they’re dying?
PODCAST: An innovative UK study shows how doctors depend on body language as much as words.
Death on the ward: frontline nurse shares her experiences
PODCAST: What it’s like to die on an acute hospital ward and what happens next for the families left behind.
How an acute hospital becomes ‘hospice friendly’
PODCAST: The busiest and biggest acute hospital in Ireland is making positive changes.
Activist to funeral celebrant, plus what’s space burial?
PODCAST: Story of why an LGTB activist trained to be a funeral celebrant. Plus what is space burial?
The innovative ‘Kicking the Bucket’ project in Limerick
PODCAST: Meet the two women facing mortality head on through laughter and art.
Pet cremation questions answered
PODCAST: Some common questions answered when choosing to cremate an animal companion.
Why hospitals need to be ‘hospice friendly’
PODCAST – Sometimes it can be the small changes that can have the greatest impacts.
Stories from a NYC funeral director
PODCAST – How funerals of the city’s most famous residents are conducted that bit differently.
How a good death needs good design
PODCAST – Interview about the innovative London project bringing design thinking to deathcare.
Strange history of death and dying in Dublin
IRELAND – Hear stories from a new book opening up a hidden history, from grave-robbers to garden cemeteries.
Can I leave my Twitter account in my Will?
IRELAND – Solicitor and legal expert Owen Burke answers this and other questions on 21st century Wills.
Innovative new world of the online memorial
CANADA – Meet the young company innovating the way we remember our dead for a digital age.
The Music Thanatologist helping the dying
USA – Jennifer Hollis is a professional Music Thanatologist. Song has been shown to help ease suffering.
Death & the prison officer
IRELAND – New research sheds light on how the death of prisoners affects their custodians.
The secret world of the trainee funeral celebrant
IRELAND – Rachel Henderson is a trainee funeral celebrant. She shares the story of this very personal journey.
Beginner’s guide on how to write a Will
IRELAND – Will expert & solicitor Owen Burke translates the ‘legalese’ and explains the process.
Urban Death Project’s ultimate green burial
USA – Why we should redraw the deathcare map and create a genuinely green alternative.
Why Capsula Mundi reinvented the coffin
ITALY – Listen to the story of Capsula Mundi in a special interview with its creator Raoul Bretzel.
We’ve lost the ability to deal with death
IRELAND – Author Dr Seamus O’Mahony strongly argues that modern medicine in acute hospitals ill-serves the dying.
How to turn our cemeteries into forests
IRELAND – Want to be turned into a tree after you die? Roger Moliné and his brother can help with that.
Tea & mortality: welcome to the Death Cafe
Innovative founder of the Death Cafe movement on why it’s important to discuss death.
Cremation ashes jewellery creator shares her story
Author, entrepreneur & Glam Reaper Jennifer Muldowney explains her business.
DIY funerals, rising death costs & doing things naturally
Meet the UK charity providing people with the facts around funerals for over two decades.
Emotional work of an Irish civil funeral celebrant
Guiding people through creating a funeral service is a very special job. It’s certainly not a Monday-Friday, 9-5 life.
Hidden business of running historic Dublin cemeteries
Behind the scenes running Glasnevin Trust’s five cemeteries and soon-to-be three crematoria.
Going out in style: Keening the dead at Irish funerals and wakes
Traditional Arts researcher Michelle Collins tells the fascinating story of the practice of keening at funerals in
Going out in style: ‘My first cremation urn was meant to hold me’
John Sherlock is an award-winning ceramicist. He makes unique ‘sacred vessels’ designed to contain cremated
Going out in style: Give your dog a second life if you die before him
Suzie Carley from Dogs Trust Ireland explains the Canine Care Card programme. It’s a free service from the
Going out in style: A mariner’s stories of burial at sea
Author and mariner Norman Freeman shares his stories of burials at sea during the years he was a Marconi radio
Going out in style: Keening, neo-pagan funerals, Amulet Project
Folklorist and historian, Dr Jenny Butler, shares some insights into Irish funeral traditions and the practice of keening
Going out in style: a memorial ash scattering service in Ireland
Entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den contestant Kevin Walker founded and runs Your Final Journey. It’s a
Going Out In Style: the secret history of the Irish memorial card
Design historian Mary Ann Bolger shares the fascinating history of the Irish Catholic memorial card.
Going out in style: the 1916 Rising’s dead at Deansgrange Cemetery
Author and former grave-digger Jamie Moran shares the moving stories of the victims of the 1916 Rising who are
Going out in style: dealing with death in videogames
Expert gamer Jay Hunter discusses how some videogames are breaking boundaries with sophisticated storylines
Going out in style: inside a real Viking funeral with Dr Stephen Harrison
Archeologist and Viking expert Dr Stephen Harrison, from the University of Glasgow, explains what really
Going out in style: do funerals in video games help us deal with death?
Jay Hunter is a gamer and presents the world’s biggest old-school wrestling video podcast. He explains the many
Going out in style: Fr Parys explains Polish funeral traditions
Fr Bartholomew Parys SVD, a Polish priest living and working in Ireland explains the traditions around funerals
Going out in style: donating your body to medical science
Vivienne Clarke shares the story of her late father’s decision to donate his body to the Medical School at
Going out in style: The power of music at a funeral service
Mezzo soprano Sonya Grimes explains what it’s like to help a family create a special funeral service with their
Going out in style: Why it’s so important to discuss death
Rebecca Lloyd is Compassionate Communities project worker for Milford Care Centre in Limerick
Going out in style: Holding onto your identity in death
Imagine what it would be like to live your life and then at the end of it, everything you were was erased?
Going out in style: A Funeral Director’s own choice of funeral
Funeral Director Peadar Farrelly has no fear of death. He already knows that his own funeral will be a well planned
Going out in style: Digital legacies and being with your pets after you die
Irish Times technology journalist Karlin Lillington shares her choice of funeral music, how funerals can really differ
Going out in style: Bernard Cawley on Irish Traveller culture
Irish Traveller Bernard Cawley dispels some of the myths about his community. He shares the story of how
Going out in style: The Lord Mayor of Dublin shares her story
What’s your funeral song? Have you ever thought about your final send off? Críona Ní Dhálaigh, the 346th Lord
