The Tánaiste Joan Burton has lashed out at the high cost of funerals.
Burton has said the cost of a burial plot in Dublin and other urban areas is "staggering".
She has told an Oireachtas Committee that Community Welfare Officers are regularly asked to help families cover the cost of burying a loved one.
“The charges, even for putting in a small urn relating to the ashes of a beloved one, they are extraordinarily high,” said the Tánaiste.