Kerry has been dubbed the “funeral attendance capital” of Ireland, following the release of new figures by RIP.ie. 

The website has calculated that the average person in the Kingdom goes to 10 funerals every year - more than three times the number attended by Dubliners. 

By contrast, people in the capital attend on average three a year, while in the rest of Leinster, the figure is four. 

In Ulster, most people attend five, while in Connacht the figure is six. 

On Lunchtime Live, Graham Gleasure of the Gleasure Funeral Home in Tralee said he was not surprised to learn Kerry is “funeral attendance capital” of Ireland. 

“I think that Kerry people feel, I think, kind of a sense of belonging, it's a sense of duty,” he said. 

“It's a sense of the right thing to do and it comes down really to respect. 

“It's the fact that if you hear that somebody's parent or sibling or uncle or aunt or grandparent or somebody that's close to them has died, you do feel immediately that, ‘I'd like to get my sympathy across to them in somehow or other’.” 

A funeral. Image: Kzenon / Alamy. 17 October 2011

Mr Gleasure said he senses there is very much a rural-urban divide developing in relation to funerals, with attendance falling in Ireland’s cities. 

“I think that, to be honest, the cities in Ireland have gone a little bit like the English funerals in that the numbers are smaller,” he said. 

“It's almost by invitation and there's a different feeling.

“Whereas when you go to rural Ireland, you go outside the cities at all, there is a different feeling - people feel they should go.

“And whether it's awkward or difficult or far away, young, old, able, infirm, they will all make a huge effort.” 

Mr Gleasure added that it would not be unusual to see thousands of people attend a funeral to pay their respects to a well-known community figure. 

“Even the smallest funeral will have a very good turnout of people turning up,” he said.

Main image: A coffin in a church for a funeral. Picture by: Alamy.com.