A 65-year-old Ukrainian refugee was buried in Skibbereen, west Cork, last week after attempts to contact his next-of-kin yielded no results.
Yevhen Mishchenko died alone on 2 January in his flat in Main Street, Skibbereen, having left Mariupol shortly after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine last year.
A post-mortem examination confirmed that his death was not suspicious.
Gardaí attempted to track down relatives in Mariupol but they could not find any family.
West and South Cork Coroner Frank O'Connell made the decision to bury Mr Mishchenko in St Patrick’s Cemetery once it became clear that it had proven impossible to contact any of his family members.
Mr O'Connell said that Mr Mishchenko was "very much alone" in Ireland and that nobody knows if was married or had children.
"A woman in Skibbereen, who spoke either Russian or Ukrainian, was able to communicate with him but she couldn’t get any information from him. He was very private and quiet," Mr O’Connell said.
He said that the Department of Social Protection paid for the burial and that it is possible that this could happen again.
"Most of the refugees who come in are relatively young and healthy but statistically you will have some deaths and he unfortunately was one of those," Mr O’Connell said.
"We are conscious that someday somebody will come looking for him. If his body was repatriated that could be part of the healing process."
Mr Mishchenko’s burial was attended by Skibbereen parish priest Fr John Heinhold, along with local undertakers and grave diggers.
