A growing number of first-generation funeral directors are leaving traditional careers behind to take up work in one of Ireland's oldest and most private professions: reshaping how the country says goodbye to its dead.
In cities like Cork and Tralee, new faces are entering the funeral industry without any family background in it, drawn by personal experience and long-held ambition. Many, like Joseph Twomey and Lisa Dillane, are turning away from stable careers in surveying and music to begin work in embalming, funeral arrangement, and bereavement care — roles once almost exclusively inherited through family-run firms.
