How much does a funeral and coffin cost and what if you don't have money?

euser1984 · 15-05-2014 6:05pm #1

Thanks.

Ken. · 15-05-2014 6:41pm

Your dead, what do you care. After 3-4 days you'd start smelling and they'd have to put you somewhere.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/death/after_a_death/burials.html
Burial where the deceased has no means

If someone dies without the means to pay for burial and if this person has no traceable next of kin, it is the responsibility of the Department of Social Protection or local authority to ensure that the person is buried in a dignified manner that does not impinge on public health or public decency. The Department or local authority will also be liable for the charges and costs involved in doing so.

gctest50 · 15-05-2014 6:48pm

You could donate yours to science :

http://www.nuigalway.ie/anatomy/donation_programme.html

Bodies that have gone through a violent death ( bad car accident, suicide by shotgun etc ) wouldn't be much good to them though.

Miaireland · 15-05-2014 7:32pm

It is hard to say how much a funeral costs much depends on type of coffin, whether you need to purchase a grave etc. I suggest you speak to both your community welfare officer and local undertaker who probably will be able to give you advice. It might also be worth talking to your local St. Vincent De Paul.

euser1984 · 15-05-2014 9:46pm

To be honest my main questions really is roughly the cost (even if you had money)?

scwazrh · 15-05-2014 9:58pm

euser1984 wrote: »

To be honest my main questions really is roughly the cost (even if you had money)?

try here

miss no stars · 15-05-2014 10:11pm

scwazrh wrote: »

try here

Nice, someone comes on looking for information on the cost of funerals and gets a smart arsed response.

OP, a lot is the answer. Even basic coffins don't come cheap - think a couple of hundred is about as cheap as you'll find. If you have a grave already it'll be another couple of hundred to open it up. If you don't and you don't have any money to buy one I'm not sure what happens. Then there's the hearse. Think that's the bare minimum you could get away with. You'll probably find funeral directors quite helpful, I'm sure they're well used to people approaching them about this sort of stuff.

Ken. · 16-05-2014 12:03am

A recent funeral for my uncle cost €3000. Breakdown was €1500 coffin,€400 to open the grave and fill it in(plot didn't have to be brought but every graveyard has different prices.) €700 to the undertakers and the rest for priest and other miscellany. I have seen coffins that cost up to €20,000 and plots in some graveyards can be upwards of €2000 so really the skies the limit.
Edit to add: Funeral was in Carlow.

dudara · 16-05-2014 10:11am

@scwazrh If you can't post in a helpful manner, then please don't post.

dudara

rubadub · 16-05-2014 4:04pm

There was a cancer patient on tv3 the other morning, saying she was looking at coffins for herself, not wanting it all left up to her 19 year old daughter. She was going to be cremated but said it still had to be a proper coffin, she was suggesting a cardboard box, I have seen these on TV, cardboard coffins for cremation. I think the funeral director said it had to be wooden and the cheapest was still a lot, maybe €400-800. She got a friend to make her one instead.

I have always felt that the trade is very open to exploiting people, as they do not want to appear to be thrifty or stingy of seen to be "shopping around" or looking for a bargain, or haggling etc. Sort of similar to weddings in a way, like this comedy sketch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gimiDBAK2wA

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/undertakers-with-a-difference-an-online-service-and-cheapest-funeral-26855958.html

02 DECEMBER 2012
Josh Moonman claims his new Dublin-based online service, Legacy.ie, offers Ireland's cheapest basic funeral -- at a cost of €890.
The basic budget package is offered both through Legacy.ie's online service and the firm's regular undertaking service in North Frederick Street.

The average Irish funeral service costs in the order of €5,000 and the basic service offered by Legacy.ie undercuts the famous €990 funerals offered by Rom Masseys.

The €890 funeral is for a cremation, and includes a coffin, cremation urn, hearse, staff accompaniment, funeral home and basic service. Cremation costs of around €600 are not included (this is usual).

L1011 · 16-05-2014 4:10pm

rubadub wrote: »

There was a cancer patient on tv3 the other morning, saying she was looking at coffins for herself, not wanting it all left up to her 19 year old daughter. She was going to be cremated but said it still had to be a proper coffin, she was suggesting a cardboard box, I have seen these on TV, cardboard coffins for cremation. I think the funeral director said it had to be wooden and the cheapest was still a lot, maybe €400-800. She got a friend to make her one instead.

Considering you can rent solid wood caskets* from which a liner is removed for cremation this really sounds like her chosen funeral director was looking to make a quick quid off her.

* http://www.mountjerome.ie/?content=frequently-asked-questions and a few funeral directors websites mention it; some suggestion that Glasnevin doesn't like them though.

Cabaal · 16-05-2014 4:12pm

The cost of a funeral vary's ALOT,

If you go with a wooden coffin, a cardboard coffin, where you want to be buried, do you do a newspaper bit about the death or just use RIP.ie etc.

Kind of a hard answer to give

scwazrh · 16-05-2014 5:50pm

dudara wrote: »

@scwazrh If you can't post in a helpful manner, then please don't post.

dudara

The 2nd result on the page my link goes to is "funerals- citizen information" , the third result says" the average cost of a funeral is 3-5000 but can rise to 10000 . The 4th result says "average Irish funeral cost is 5000" . It's obvious my post answered the question and is therefore helpful

miss no stars · 16-05-2014 6:19pm

scwazrh wrote: »

The 2nd result on the page my link goes to is "funerals- citizen information" , the third result says" the average cost of a funeral is 3-5000 but can rise to 10000 . The 4th result says "average Irish funeral cost is 5000" . It's obvious my post answered the question and is therefore helpful

It was still smart arsed. If you'd linked to the google search then yeah, fair enough, but you chose to be a wise guy and linked to "let me google that for you".

Fred Swanson · 17-05-2014 12:42am

This post has been deleted.

dudara · 17-05-2014 8:20am

scwazrh wrote: »

The 2nd result on the page my link goes to is "funerals- citizen information" , the third result says" the average cost of a funeral is 3-5000 but can rise to 10000 . The 4th result says "average Irish funeral cost is 5000" . It's obvious my post answered the question and is therefore helpful

You were being smart. Please don't continue to argue this on the thread.

dudara

Santa Cruz · 17-05-2014 8:32am

euser1984 wrote: »

To be honest my main questions really is roughly the cost (even if you had money)?

It all depends on what you want. My recent experience was as follows in Dublin:

Hearse only no mourners cars,
coffin
cremation
singer for ceremony
flowers

This totalled €6,800 approx of which the coffin was 1800 approx and subsequently went up in smoke!
If you want mourner car it will be another 1000 to 1200 depending on use e.g removal to church or if appropriate removal from hospital morgue to crematorium.

The funeral grant has been abolished (Thanks Mr. Gilmore)
If the deceased had a Credit Union account there is a grant available regardless of the amount in the account.
Also the Community Welfare Officer can be of assistance.

I would say that you could get it cheaper and the undertakers are very helpful

Halloween Jack · 17-05-2014 8:35am

It is our most, modestly priced receptacle.......

Owryan · 17-05-2014 8:40am

Its kinda hard to put a price on a funeral. Depends on the area, whether or not there is already a plot in the graveyard and how much of a fuss you want ie notice in paper or on radio, flowers, tea/coffee in funeral home or food at the wake.

As an example I paid for both my parents funerals. Dad in 07 cost €4500, mam in 2011 cost €3650. Both had same type funeral with same undertaker. Only difference was my dad passed away pre recession taking hold.

No Pants · 17-05-2014 9:45am

ken wrote: »

€400 to open the grave and fill it in

I think it runs to four figures in Fingal and more again at the weekends. Ridiculous considering the amount of work that is required.

mrsbyrne · 17-05-2014 11:22am

The CWO will only help out with the very basics, coffin, hearse crematorium/grave opening. Flowers, singer, mourning car, newspaper notice are all frills. Refreshments are a definite no no. Also, technically, the bereaved are supposed to see the CWO before any arrangements are made.

euser1984 · 17-05-2014 12:34pm

Very helpful people - it's something that I procrastinated on looking into for a long time now....glad I know this information now.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 17-05-2014 12:42pm

The UT's services and Plot is the big expense (coffins prices go right down to bio degradable cardboard), Cremation I hear is the most cost effective method.

With a family plot it shouldn't be too steep overall

danjo-xx · 17-05-2014 10:43pm

Currently cardboard coffins are not accepted in crematoriums in the Republic of Ireland, but they are accepted in Northern Ireland and the UK.

http://www.greencoffinsireland.com/index.php/cardboard

Is this still the case!

schemingbohemia · 19-05-2014 1:37pm

Santa Cruz wrote: »

It all depends on what you want. My recent experience was as follows in Dublin:

Hearse only no mourners cars,
coffin
cremation
singer for ceremony
flowers

This totalled €6,800 approx of which the coffin was 1800 approx and subsequently went up in smoke!
If you want mourner car it will be another 1000 to 1200 depending on use e.g removal to church or if appropriate removal from hospital morgue to crematorium.

The funeral grant has been abolished (Thanks Mr. Gilmore)
If the deceased had a Credit Union account there is a grant available regardless of the amount in the account.
Also the Community Welfare Officer can be of assistance.

I would say that you could get it cheaper and the undertakers are very helpful

Gilmore didn't abolish the funeral grant and it was basically a subsidy to the funeral homes/undertakers, as posted by someone else prices have come down since the funeral grant was abolished proving that it was just a subsidy.

OU812 · 19-05-2014 1:41pm

At a family friend's funeral in 2006. They guy's son had done well for himself & when the father died, he got him the most ornate hand carved mahogany casket. This thing was huge & very beautiful, cost €11,000 at the time - that's just the casket, the actual funeral was extra. Then they had him cremated... I didn't get it, but his opinion was that he felt his dad deserved it. Having known his dad, I think he would have preferred to have a regular old plywood veneer job & spent the balance on the grandkids...

Cabaal · 19-05-2014 4:14pm

OU812 wrote: »

At a family friend's funeral in 2006. They guy's son had done well for himself & when the father died, he got him the most ornate hand carved mahogany casket. This thing was huge & very beautiful, cost €11,000 at the time - that's just the casket, the actual funeral was extra. Then they had him cremated... I didn't get it, but his opinion was that he felt his dad deserved it. Having known his dad, I think he would have preferred to have a regular old plywood veneer job & spent the balance on the grandkids...

Yeah that makes no sense at all,
He might as well have put 11k in a plywood coffin when he was cremated and said "sure he deserved it", make about as much sense.

coylemj · 19-05-2014 6:20pm

On the southside, a plot in Shanganagh costs €2,900 plus a €900 'interment' charge. The plot can only be purchased 'at the time of death' through a funeral director i.e. no advance purchase possible.

A limited number of plots are available in Deansgrange for €16,000 a go.

http://www.dlrcoco.ie/parks/cemeteries/general.htm

mrsbyrne · 19-05-2014 6:51pm

Cabaal wrote: »

Yeah that makes no sense at all,
He might as well have put 11k in a plywood coffin when he was cremated and said "sure he deserved it", make about as much sense.

I was standing by while a close family member picked a coffin for her mother from a brochure(Dublin, I live in the country and undertakers normally show you twor three actual coffins, but I digress) the Undertaker indicated the coffin most used far cremations "€450" says he. " Oh that light oak won't go with the pine in the sitting room"(mother being waked at home) says the close family member. So the UT turns the page, points at another coffin " €850" says he. "That's grand" says close family member. The dead woman hadn't yet left her bed but I'm sure to this day I could here her spinning under the blankets.
Edited to add: you could see the € signs lighting up in the undertakers eyes. I found the service given by the undertaker in Dublin far inferior to that you would get down here, especially considering how gruesomely more expensive it was.

miss no stars · 19-05-2014 11:10pm

mrsbyrne wrote: »

I was standing by while a close family member picked a coffin for her mother from a brochure(Dublin, I live in the country and undertakers normally show you twor three actual coffins, but I digress) the Undertaker indicated the coffin most used far cremations "€450" says he. " Oh that light oak won't go with the pine in the sitting room"(mother being waked at home) says the close family member. So the UT turns the page, points at another coffin " €850" says he. "That's grand" says close family member. The dead woman hadn't yet left her bed but I'm sure to this day I could here her spinning under the blankets.
Edited to add: you could see the € signs lighting up in the undertakers eyes. I found the service given by the undertaker in Dublin far inferior to that you would get down here, especially considering how gruesomely more expensive it was.

Hit and miss with undertakers. I found one crowd awful. Really, really poor service. Another crowd in Dublin I couldnt commend highly enough.

euser1984 · 19-05-2014 11:21pm

Do undertakers generally have brochures or anything?

How much does a funeral and coffin cost and what if you don't have money?

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