{"id":622945,"date":"2026-08-06T03:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T03:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622945\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T03:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T03:59:11","slug":"the-digital-church-door-why-3-4-million-a-month-turn-to-rip-ie-to-pay-their-respects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622945\/","title":{"rendered":"The digital church door: Why 3.4 million a month turn to RIP.ie to pay their respects"},"content":{"rendered":"

IN THE WEEK since his death, musician Glen Hansard has amassed over 3,000 written condolences on RIP.ie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The condolence book on the popular site is open on Hansard\u2019s death notice, allowing family, friends and fans from across the world to pay tribute to the late singer.<\/p>\n

Hansard\u00a0passed away<\/a>\u00a0on 29 July in a motor crash near Lucan in West Dublin.<\/p>\n

Richie Kelly, head of RIP.ie, told The Journal \u201cwhen a figure like Glen Hansard passes, RIP.ie becomes the place the whole country and the Irish diaspora go to grieve together\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s personal and that\u2019s what makes it such a rich and powerful record,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

While Kelly admitted that RIP.ie does not share the amount of views on individual notices, he said that the site has seen similar \u2018outpourings of grief\u2019 before.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0condolence book<\/a>\u00a0of fellow musician Shane MacGowan, who passed away three years ago, had a similar volume of written condolences, although slightly less than Hansard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, condolence books on RIP.ie are not always open for the public to leave tributes.<\/p>\n

This weekend also saw the passing of former head of the Irish Nationwide Building Society Michael Fingleton.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 88-year-old businessman was a central figure during the financial crash of 2008.<\/p>\n

Unlike Hansard, the condolence book on Fingleton\u2019s death notice remains closed.<\/p>\n

Kelly insisted that this is usually at the discretion of the funeral directors, who have an option to open a condolence book on every notice they place.<\/p>\n

Books open as soon as a verified notice is published and stay open to new entries for 60 days before becoming read-only, which means messages are preserved but the record closes.<\/p>\n

Kelly shared that all condolences are closely monitored on the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cCondolences are reviewed before they go live by a combination of AI-based systems and assessment by the RIP team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A member of the public can also report a condolence they deem to be inappropriate in line with the Digital Services Act, which targets harmful content.<\/p>\n

These reports will then be followed up by RIP.ie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"paolo-montechiaro-from-tuscany-italy-living-in-ireland-signs-the-book-of-condolence-for-glen-hansard-at-mansion-house-in-dublin-the-oscar-winning-irish-musician-and-activist-died-in-a-motorcycle\"
\n A condolence book for Glen Hansard at Dublin’s Mansion House Alamy<\/p>\n

Alamy<\/p>\n

3.4 million users per month<\/strong><\/p>\n

Engagement with RIP.ie has grown significantly in recent years, with the site seeing over 20,000 condolences per day, Kelly maintained.<\/p>\n

He added that the average number of users on the site this year so far was 3.4 million per month.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, that increases significantly when a well-known public figure passes away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Similarly, individuals involved in highly publicised tragedies have received a high number of tributes on the platform.<\/p>\n

The death of 16-year-old Grace Lynch i<\/a>n an e-scooter related accident earlier this year prompted a wave of condolences from across the island.<\/p>\n

\u00a0
RIP.ie was founded by Dundalk siblings Jay and Dymphna Coleman in 2005 with the aim of creating a space to inform the public of funerals<\/a> but also to encourage personal interactions with death notices, especially for those living far away.<\/p>\n

Users are directed how to send flowers or make donations and can also set up email alerts for death notices in a specific town, for example.<\/p>\n

It was acquired by The Irish Times group<\/a> in 2024 as part of its expansion of digital services and products.<\/p>\n

For the first time in January 2025, the site introduced a \u20ac100 fee for notices.<\/p>\n

The fee targeted funeral directors who submit notices to the platform, but is ultimately paid by the family who chose to publish on the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A charge to users of the site has not been introduced.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelly said that the fees were introduced \u201cto invest in and improve the service\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, at the time organisations such as the\u00a0Irish Association of Funeral Directors<\/a>\u00a0voiced concerns to the site on the increased price.<\/p>\n

The introduction of notice fees also created an opportunity for new competitors<\/a>, such as Condolences.ie, to enter the market.<\/p>\n

Asked if new charges have impacted engagement with the site, Kelly said there has not been a drop-off in the number of families choosing to publish a notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeedback from funeral\u00a0directors and families has been positive, and usage of the site \u2014 both notices and condolences\u2014 has remained strong,\u201d Kelly told The Journal.<\/p>\n

When questioned on the enduring popularity of RIP.ie, Kelly believed that \u201cit taps into something very Irish \u2014 the importance we place on paying our respects and celebrating life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRIP.ie made that possible for anyone, anywhere, not just people who could get to a removal or a funeral,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really the online version of expressing your sympathies and exchanging memories at the church door.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IN THE WEEK since his death, musician Glen Hansard has amassed over 3,000 written condolences on RIP.ie. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[263145,18,117,129992,19,17,263146,1186,143597],"class_list":["post-622945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-book-of-condolence","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-glen-hansard","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-funeral","tag-none","tag-rip-ie"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117046567102142145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}