Widowed dating in Ireland

Nowhere does the first week better. The house full, the kettle never off, people you have not seen in years arriving at the door with something in their hands. Whatever else can be said about the country, it does not leave you on your own for the funeral.

It is the following March that catches people out. The calls have thinned, everyone has gone back to their own lives entirely reasonably, and the house is quiet in a way it was not before. That is usually when somebody starts wondering whether they are allowed to want company again.

You are. Brighter is a dating site for widows and widowers, open across the island and beyond it, free to join, and short on opinions about your timing.

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What it is like here

Small places have an obvious drawback and an underrated advantage. The drawback is that everybody knows, and a good many of them have views. The advantage is that a first meeting can be a walk and a coffee in the next town over, and nobody has to make an occasion of it.

Everyone on Brighter is looking for the same sort of thing, which spares you the part where you explain what happened and then manage somebody else's discomfort about it. You can say his name, or hers, the way you would say it at home.

Where to turn

The Irish Hospice Foundation Bereavement Support Line is the one most people should have. It runs with the HSE, it is free from a landline or a mobile on 1800 80 70 77, and it is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 1pm. They are also clear that grief is not something anyone gets over in a few months, which is a good sign of who you are ringing.

Widow.ie is specifically for widowed people and runs online forums, which suits anyone who would rather read for a while than talk to a stranger on the phone.

The HSE bereavement pages list services around the country, and the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy holds a register of accredited counsellors if you would rather see somebody privately.

If you are in the North, the structure is different: Cruse Bereavement Support has local branches and a free helpline there, as it does across England and Wales.

Cost

It costs nothing to join or to look. There is a paid membership with a few extras, which plenty of people never bother with. The page on what free actually means goes through it.

One thing worth watching

Widowed people are targeted more than most by romance fraud, and it follows a pattern: someone whose story mirrors yours a little too neatly, warmth arriving very fast, a reason a video call never happens, then a difficulty and a request for money.

If it happens, go to your local Garda station or, in the North, the police, and ring your bank the same day. Do it even if you feel a fool about it, because that is the part they rely on. Our guide to romance fraud and how it works on widowed people goes through it properly.

What Brighter checks, and what stays between you and the site, is set out on the page about how it all works.

Questions people ask

Is there a dating site for widows and widowers in Ireland?

Yes. Brighter is open across Ireland, north and south, and is not limited to either. Everyone the site is written for has lost a husband or wife, so nothing has to be explained before a conversation starts. Joining, browsing and matching are free.

Where can I get bereavement support in Ireland?

The Irish Hospice Foundation runs a national freephone Bereavement Support Line with the HSE on 1800 80 70 77, open weekdays from 10am to 1pm. Widow.ie hosts online forums specifically for widowed people. The HSE also keeps a list of bereavement services around the country.

What if I am in Northern Ireland?

The support structures differ. In Northern Ireland, Cruse Bereavement Support has local branches and a free helpline, as it does across England and Wales. In the Republic, the Irish Hospice Foundation line and HSE services are the usual starting points. Brighter itself works the same either side.