Grieving relatives may find it difficult to shop around but funeral charges vary substantially, according to a survey by the Consumers' Association of Ireland.
Charges for removal vary from none to £200, while coffins range from £350 to £2,100. A hearse can cost between £40 and £320, while care of the body costs between £70 and £250.
Some funeral directors charge for the hire of the hearse by the hour, others have a single charge, according to the survey in this month's Consumer Choice magazine.
Funeral services are generally dearer in Dublin. Grave purchase and opening costs are not set by funeral directors but by county councils and other local authorities.
Death notices in the Irish Examiner cost £2.80 a line, the Irish Independent, £6 a line and The Irish Times £5.85 a line. VAT, at 20 per cent, is added to those charges. Floral tributes, church musicians and offerings to the church may also have to be added to the cost.
The CAI contacted funeral directors in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick and asked them to list their prices for common funeral expenses. Some refused to discuss charges over the telephone.
Members of the Irish Association of Funeral Directors, which represents about a third of all funeral directors but conducts more than 75 per cent of funerals in Ireland, are obliged by the association's code of practice to discuss costs when the funeral arrangements are being made.
Mr David Flanagan, of the IAFD, told the Consumers' Association: "Anyone can set themselves up as a funeral director. Anyone can move a body which has communicable diseases and put others at risk. There are no statutory requirements that you have to know Department of Health rules on communicable diseases. This should be front-page news but it's not on the agenda. It's an accident waiting to happen."
Mr Dermott Jewell, chief executive, Consumers' Association of Ireland, said the IAFD, which is self-regulating, represented 154 members in the 32 counties. "With 495 funeral directors listed in the Golden Pages, questions arise - Why does this area remain unregulated? Why is it permitted that anyone can operate as a funeral director? Why are there no statutory provisions regulating those handling the remains of those with, for example, communicable diseases?"
He said this was an area with no official guidelines on charges or statutory requirements on credentials for trading. "These matters must be addressed to ensure transparency and choice and best practice for all consumers even at the moment of grief," said Mr Jewell.