Anyone interested in a time-share coffin?

The cardboard coffin is all very well, if you like that kind of thing, but it's not particularly attractive as coffins go and, apart from committed environmentalists, most people wouldn't be seen dead in it.

Which is why the latest innovation in the funeral business is coffin rental.

In a move it describes as "the future of cremation", Dublin undertaker Rom Massey & Sons is now offering customers the option of hiring a coffin.

The idea is simple: a £120 inner box, made of plywood, chipboard or MDF, is encased for the duration of the funeral in a solid Irish oak casket, which is rented for the occasion.

"When the funeral is completed and the public have left the crematorium chapel, the interior coffin is removed in private and this is sent for cremation," say the undertakers. "The outer solid shell casket is retained by us for future rental use."

Company spokesman Mr Keith Massey says the service has answered "the public's demand" for an attractive, economical and environmentally friendly choice in cremation.

He says the shell casket would normally cost about £2,500 to buy but can be rented for £170.

The idea is not that strange, he insists.

"Many people are already under the impression the coffin is not burned during cremation," he points out.

Rom Massey has been called the Ryanair of the funeral business.

With its combination of aggressive marketing and a lowcost, no-frills service, it exposes what it suggests is a rip-off (with a capital R.I.P) by other undertakers.

Leaflet drops to Dublin homes have caused controversy in the past, but Mr Keith Massey is undeterred and he will be repeating the exercise with the latest promotion.

"We distributed 200,000 leaflets last time and we had 50 complaints," he says. "We can accept that. We have to advertise."

The rental service is available only for cremations and, for now, the only crematorium accepting the coffins is Mount Jerome in Dublin's Harolds Cross.

By a happy coincidence, this is operated by Mr Alan Massey, another member of the family.

The undertakers say the rental scheme is the first of its kind in Ireland.

The cardboard coffin is still available. But Mr Keith Massey concedes that many customers find the idea off-putting, and it remains very much a "niche" market, accounting for only about 20 customers a year.