Who do I contact first if a tourist dies in Ireland?

Call the emergency services on 112 or 999 if the person has just died or you think they have. Then contact the embassy of the person's home country and a funeral director in Ireland. If they were on a package holiday, the tour operator can help too.

Do I need to contact the embassy if a tourist dies in Ireland?

Yes. The embassy tells you which documents the person's home country needs before the body or ashes can arrive, and whether the death should also be recorded at home. Embassies advise and liaise; they do not usually pay costs.

How do I register a death in Ireland as a tourist or foreign national?

The death is registered in Ireland. If no coroner is involved, a doctor gives you a Death Notification Form; you complete Part 2 and take it, with photo ID, to any Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Registration is free. If the coroner held a post-mortem, the coroner registers the death for you.

Can a friend or travelling companion register the death?

Usually a close relative registers. If no relative is available, Citizens Information says the informant can be someone who was present at the death, the person who arranged the funeral, or another person who knows the details needed to register it.

How do I get a death certificate while visiting Ireland?

You can get copies from the registrar when you register the death, or order them later online or from any civil registration office. A full certificate costs €20. If the coroner is investigating, the certificate may be delayed; you can ask the coroner for an interim death certificate in the meantime.

Will there be a post-mortem?

Only if the coroner decides one is needed. A sudden, unnatural or violent death must be reported to the coroner, who may arrange a post-mortem to find the cause. If the person died of an illness they had seen a doctor about in the previous month, the coroner is usually not involved.

Does Garda involvement mean the death is suspicious?

No. The Gardaí help the coroner with identification and a report on the circumstances. Citizens Information is clear that their involvement does not mean the death is being treated as suspicious.

What documents are needed to send a body home from Ireland?

The Department of Foreign Affairs lists the coroner's removal order or a non-infectious note, an embalming certificate, the person's passport or identity card, a funeral director's declaration, an embassy permit, and notarised or apostilled documents where required. The funeral director usually gathers most of them.

Who pays to bring the body home?

The family or the person's insurer. The Irish government does not give financial help with repatriation, and many other governments do not either. Check for travel insurance or health cover early, and call the insurer before agreeing costs with anyone.

Can the person be cremated in Ireland and the ashes taken home?

Yes, some families choose this. Ask the embassy first what the home country requires for ashes. For someone from England or Wales, GOV.UK advises against cremation abroad if you want a coroner at home to hold an inquest.

The person lived in England or Wales. Do I register the death there too?

The death is registered in Ireland. You can also register it with the UK authorities if you want a UK record, but you do not need to if you bring the body home for the funeral. The register office where the funeral takes place issues a certificate of no liability to register. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own processes.

How do I find a funeral director in Ireland who handles repatriation?

The Irish Association of Funeral Directors can help, on 0818 935000 or at iafd.ie. The embassy may also know local funeral directors who regularly arrange repatriation, and a tour operator should be able to help with the arrangements.

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End-of-Life Planning

When a Visitor Dies in Ireland: What to Do, Who to Contact and How to Bring Them Home

Left This World12 October 2026(Updated 12 October 2026)10 min read

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If someone dies while visiting Ireland, the death is registered in Ireland, not at home. A doctor or the coroner deals with the cause of death, a funeral director in Ireland handles most of the paperwork, and the embassy of the person's own country tells you what their home country needs. If you want to bring them home, the funeral director arranges the coroner's removal order, the embassy permit and the travel. The Irish government does not pay for repatriation, so check for travel insurance early. This guide covers the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and has its own coroner and registration system, explained on nidirect.

That is the short version. Below, each step is explained in the order it usually happens, with links to the official pages.

What to do straight away

If the person has just died, or you think they have, call the emergency services on 112 or 999. Both numbers work from any phone and are free.

If you are travelling with them, tell the hotel or the place you are staying. If they were on a package holiday, contact the tour operator too. The Department of Foreign Affairs says a tour operator should be able to help with the arrangements.

You do not need to know everything yet. The next few calls set the rest in motion.

Will the coroner be involved?

Often, yes. A death away from home is often sudden, and sudden deaths go to the coroner.

The coroner is not involved when the person died of an illness and had seen a doctor about it in the month before they died. In that case a doctor issues the paperwork you need to register the death, as Citizens Information explains.

A death that is sudden, unnatural or violent must be reported to the coroner for the district where it happened. So must a death where the person was dead on arrival at hospital, or where a doctor had not seen them in the previous month. A road accident is reported too. Citizens Information lists the main cases.

When the coroner is involved:

The Department of Foreign Affairs says the coroner has the body moved to a mortuary and may arrange a post-mortem examination to find the cause of death.
The Gardaí (the Irish police) help the coroner. They arrange formal identification and write a report on the circumstances. Citizens Information is clear that the Gardaí being involved does not mean the death is being treated as suspicious.
You can report the death yourself to a Garda of sergeant rank or above, who will tell the coroner. The Department of Foreign Affairs sets this out.

This part can feel frightening when you are far from home. It is a standard process, and it happens for many ordinary, natural deaths.

Identifying the person who died

The body must be formally identified. The Department of Foreign Affairs says this can sometimes be done by a travelling companion or a work colleague. In other cases, a family member may need to travel to Ireland to confirm who the person is. The Gardaí arrange this with you.

Contact the embassy

The embassy or consulate responsible for Ireland can usually help the family of one of its citizens. The Department of Foreign Affairs publishes the list of embassies in Ireland.

Ask the embassy three things:

What documents your home country needs before the body or the ashes can arrive.
Whether the death should also be recorded at home, and how.
Whether they can recommend local funeral directors who regularly handle repatriation.

Embassies can advise and liaise. They do not usually pay costs. The US State Department, for example, says it has no funds to return a citizen's remains or ashes to the United States, but it can help families send instructions and funds to the right offices. Once the Irish death certificate is issued, the embassy can also prepare a Consular Report of Death Abroad.

Choose a funeral director in Ireland

A funeral director in Ireland can deal with the formalities and arrange repatriation for you. A funeral director from the person's home country may also be able to arrange it. The Department of Foreign Affairs explains what each can do.

The Irish Association of Funeral Directors can help you find one. Its number is 0818 935000.

A funeral director can:

collect the body, and obtain its release from the coroner after a post-mortem
embalm and prepare the body for travel
get the coroner's removal order and, when it is ready, the death certificate
book the flight or the ferry and road journey
tell the embassy the travel details

If they died on a package holiday, ask the tour operator too. The Department of Foreign Affairs says it should be able to help with the arrangements.

Registering the death in Ireland

Every death in Ireland must be registered in Ireland, including the death of a visitor.

If the coroner was not involved: a doctor gives you a Death Notification Form. You complete Part 2 and take it to any Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Ireland, with photo ID. Registration is free.
If the coroner held a post-mortem or inquest: the coroner sends the details to the registrar and the death is registered automatically. You do not need to do it yourself. The death certificate may take longer, because it waits for the cause of death.

Usually a close relative registers the death. If no relative is available, for example because the family is abroad, Citizens Information says the informant can also be someone who was present at the death, the person who arranged the funeral, or another person who knows the details. You should register within 3 months.

You can get copies of the death certificate when you register, or later from any civil registration office. A full death certificate costs €20. Our guide to getting a death certificate in Ireland explains how to order copies online.

If the death certificate is delayed

While the coroner's investigation is going on, you can ask the coroner for an interim death certificate. It confirms the fact of the death. Citizens Information says you can use it to tell banks, insurers and the Department of Social Protection about the death while you wait, though each organisation decides whether to accept it. Contact the coroner for the district where the person died, and they will post it to you.

Bringing them home: the documents

The Department of Foreign Affairs lists the documents needed before a body can leave Ireland:

the coroner's removal order, or a non-infectious note
an embalming certificate
the passport or identity card of the person who died
a funeral director's declaration
an embassy permit
notarised or apostilled copies, if the destination country requires them

The funeral director usually gathers most of these. The embassy tells you which ones your home country needs.

International rules require a coffin crossing a border to be lined with zinc or lead and sealed. That kind of coffin cannot be cremated. If the person will be cremated at home, the lining has to be removed, or a second coffin provided there.

Bringing them home: the journey

The body can be flown home, or it can travel by ferry and overland, which is cheaper but slower. The funeral director books it.

You, or the funeral director, also need a funeral director in the home country. They meet the body on arrival, deal with the authorities there, and arrange the burial or cremation.

Some families choose a cremation in Ireland and take the ashes home instead. If you are considering this, ask the embassy first. For a death of someone from England or Wales, GOV.UK advises against cremation abroad if you want a coroner at home to hold an inquest.

The cost

Repatriation can be expensive. The cost depends on the distance and on how the body travels.

Check straight away whether the person had travel insurance, or private medical cover that includes repatriation. If they did, the Department of Foreign Affairs advises contacting the insurer as soon as possible. Do this before you agree costs with anyone. The policy may set out how repatriation has to be arranged.

The Irish government does not give financial help with repatriation. As the Department of Foreign Affairs notes, many other governments do not either.

If the person lived in the UK

Ireland counts as abroad for UK purposes, so the GOV.UK guidance on a death abroad applies to someone who lived in England or Wales:

The death is registered in Ireland. You can also register it with the UK authorities if you want a UK record, but you do not need to if you bring the body home for the funeral.
Tell a coroner in England or Wales if the cause of death was unknown, violent or unnatural.
Once the body is home, take the Irish death certificate to the register office for the area where the funeral will be. The registrar gives you a "certificate of no liability to register", which the funeral director needs.
You can use Tell Us Once to inform government departments, because the person was only abroad temporarily. The register office may ask you to have the Irish death certificate verified first.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own processes, which GOV.UK links to.

If the person lived in the United States

Contact the US Embassy in Dublin. Consular staff can help you send instructions to the right offices in Ireland, and explain how to send money to cover the costs. The Consular Report of Death Abroad is prepared once the Irish death certificate has been issued. The embassy asks you to post a completed questionnaire, the original Irish death certificate and the person's US passport, and returns the certificate and passport to you. The report is useful for settling the estate in the United States.

Telling people at home

When a death happens away from home, the news often travels unevenly. Some people hear on the day. Others hear weeks later, second-hand.

It can help to choose one person to pass on updates, so you are not repeating the hardest news on every call. When the funeral plans are settled, write them down once: where, when and how people can take part, including anyone who cannot travel.

When you are ready, somewhere to bring everyone together

Families split across countries often find that the funeral is only part of the goodbye. A Left This World memorial page gives everyone one place to go. You can post the service details with a time, place and address that guests can add to their calendar. Family and friends in Ireland and at home can leave messages and photographs in the guest book, and the family can gather pictures in the gallery, including from the trip itself if that feels right.

There is no hurry. Our guide to sharing a loved one's story with family far away has more ideas for when you are ready.

Disclaimer

The information in this article is general guidance only. It was checked against official sources in October 2026 and is believed to be accurate as of its publication date. Laws, procedures, fees and government services change, and they differ between countries. Left This World Memorial Ltd cannot guarantee that the information is complete or accurate, and accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions.

This article is not a substitute for professional legal, financial or administrative advice. Before you act, check each step with the relevant official body, such as the coroner's office, the civil registration service, Citizens Information or the embassy of the person's home country. You are responsible for how you use this information and for following the requirements that apply to you.

Left This World Memorial Ltd disclaims all liability, to the extent permitted by law, for any loss, damage or inconvenience resulting from reliance on this information, whether arising from negligence, error, misstatement, omission or any other cause.