When Betty Ryan died at her home in rural Ireland of complications from cancer last week, her family was understandably distraught.

And compounding their grief was a question that is now arising for families around the country: What would they do about her wake and funeral?

Like so many rites in Irish life, death is a social event as much as it is a time of mourning. But a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus outbreak has meant that funeral rituals have to be rethought.

Betty was the first person in the village of Ballyferriter, in County Kerry, to die since measures intended to stop the virus’s spread were introduced, and the family feared that their matriarch would not receive a proper send-off.