Understanding Cremation
Cremation has become an increasingly popular option in Ireland, especially in the last few years.
Choosing cremation
Losing a loved one is difficult. For families especially, trying to plan the best way to remember the person they have just lost can be both emotional and challenging at a time when they are dealing with their own grief.
Choosing between a burial and cremation can be challenging. Understanding the process can help you decide what feels right for you and your family. The person who has passed away may have left instructions about the type of funeral they wanted. If they didn't make their wishes known, you will need to decide what type of service you would like to arrange for your loved one.
Our highly qualified team will sensitively advise on how to best plan your cremation and will also discuss how you can fund your cremation costs.
We can cater for any type of funeral service; from traditional religious services to personalised celebrations of life, our team will help you arrange a funeral which reflects the life of your loved one and commemorates them in a special and unique way.
Cremation services, like burial services, look different from one family to the next, but always provide a meaningful way to honour a deceased loved one.
We work with families to ensure cremation services that are in line with their beliefs, values, and wishes. We also provide family members with different options for preserving and honouring the cremated remains of their loved one—including urns, Columbariums, cremation garden plots, water urn, memorial tree, and more.
How to arrange a funeral cremation service
A Funeral Director is your first point of contact to guide you through the arrangement process and instruct you on the relevant documentation required and the average cost of cremation.
Some families will choose to create a memorial space at their home, or a place of special meaning to the deceased, and we can provide a range of urns, caskets and keepsakes to preserve ashes in.
Other families prefer to have a memorial space at one of our cemeteries so they can gather and celebrate that person’s memory from year to year.
DC Trust Crematoria
DC Trust have been arranging cremations for over 40 years with cremation services available in three of our Dublin cemeteries located at Glasnevin, Newlands Cross and Dardistown.
Frequently Asked Questions - Cremation Services
Below are some of the queries we hear regularly, we hope they are helpful to you.
A cremation is very similar to a regular funeral service with a hymn or piece of music and some brief words by the family or by a celebrant. The service is normally a little shorter than a regular funeral at 20-25 minutes, but we do offer extended services of up to 50 minutes, for families who want to include more music, prayers, poems and so on.
At the end of the service, the mourners leave the chapel cremation room, which may either be in a private space in the chapel or in a separate building.
The cremation takes place in a specially designed chamber where the casket and the remains are exposed to very high heat until only ashes remain.
The cremation takes a few hours from start to finish and ashes will be available to family members within a few days of the service.
Prior to the service, the Funeral Director will look after the deceased as they would with a normal funeral or burial. Normally, they will dress the deceased in clothes of the family’s choosing.
In the case of cremation, items such as jewellery, glasses and certain medical devices have to be removed in advance.
In the case of cremation, items such as jewellery, glasses and certain medical devices have to be removed in advance.
Generally speaking, cremations are less expensive than burials because there is no need to purchase a grave or plot, nor to pay interment fees for burials in an existing plot.
The cremation cost will depend on your plans and what you wish to include, and your Funeral Director will normally discuss a number of options with you.
For cremation service fees for adult cremation, environmental filtration, and use of the chapel go to our Burial & Cremation Downloads and Fees page.
The cost of our urns, caskets and keepsakes are outlined on our Burial & Cremation Downloads and Fees page.
Many families wish to keep some of their loved ones' remains and we have a wide selection of cremation urns and keepsakes available to buy from cemetery offices at Dardistown, Glasnevin and Newlands Cross. See our full range of urns and keepsakes.
The cost of our Cremation Memorials can be found on our Burial & Cremation Downloads and Fees page.
Yes. The coffin and the deceased are placed in the cremation chamber.
Yes, you can opt for a "Non-Service" cremation. This is where the Funeral Director arrives with the coffin at one of our cemeteries and we carry out the cremation privately.
Burials and cremations both impact the environment to some extent. However, modern regulations require all - cremators to have advanced filtration systems to minimise the environmental impact.
A lot of people choose to scatter ashes in a place the deceased was fond of, for example at sea or on a mountainside; it is advisable to check with your local authority for specific guidelines.
Public areas such as parks, forests, lakes and rivers will usually require permits to scatter ashes so do ask permission beforehand.
It’s also worth noting that specialist small urns can be used to preserve loved ones’ ashes and distribute them among family members as keepsakes.
Yes, in cases where the deceased or their family members decide they would like the ashes interred in a pre-existing family grave, we can accommodate this option at each of our cemeteries. If a family plot is already full, there is also the option of placing the urn above ground next to the grave’s headstone.
However, the scattering of ashes within the grounds of any of our cemeteries is not permitted.
Yes. Dublin Cemeteries Trust has partnered with a leading web-streaming provider to offer an alternative way for friends and family of the deceased who cannot attend in person to view the ceremony online at all of our chapels.
All services can be live-streamed – simply inform your Funeral Director well in advance and they will arrange the details with us.
To find out more about cremation and how it works in any of our cemeteries, you can email glasnevin@dctrust.ie or call 01 882 6500.
Head Office
Glasnevin Cemetery
Finglas Road
Glasnevin
Dublin 11