Legendary publican Brian O’Donnell of the Hi-B bar was yesterday given a fitting send-off by his family and a large gathering of friends who came together on a cold and cloudless day to remember a man as warm and as wildly eccentric as the city itself.

More than €25m has been paid out by the Department of Social Protection in assistance payments to help people meet funeral costs in the five years up to and including 2018.

A mother of three who died in tragic circumstances in Mayo last week was a strong, kind and loving woman whose priority in life was the welfare and happiness of her beloved young sons, her funeral service has heard.

A mother-of-three and occupational therapist who died in tragic circumstances in Mayo last Friday was known for her loving and caring nature both in her personal life and in in the workplace, her family has indicated.

An estimated total of more than €5m was spent by the State in helping families bury their loved ones last year, according to 'snapshot' figures from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

Dawn Croke died after she was struck by a jeep in the schoolyard of the local St Crona's National School on Thursday evening last.

Gardai are being told to stop parking speed camera vans outside graveyards when funerals are taking place.

Two Limerick men - who drowned in two separate incidents in recent days - have been remembered at their funeral masses as unique, loving, and free-spirited.

The traditional practice of evening removal services in churches as part of Irish funerals is dying out.

Funeral masses on Sundays will not be held in the Kerry diocese from September 1, due to a shortage of priests.

Funeral DVDs have been an unexpected growth industry arising from the surge in emigration — they are increasingly popular among overseas family and friends of the bereaved.

HE’S right, the Bishop of Meath, for wanting to rescue the Catholic funeral from modern misconceptions of what it is meant to be.