Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The word is that things have tightened up so much that it is not worth going to the community welfare officer any longer.

The bereavement grants, although they can be generous at times, seem to be operating in a fairly haphazard fashion as well. I am not sure what the guidelines are for them. The system needs to be looked at. There are certain undertakers that engage where the family is in need of a bereavement grant, and then there are others that do not. The actual price of the funeral can vary enormously and, while the traditional bereavement grant may be quite adequate, another one will be totally inadequate to go any distance. Is there not the opportunity for a link-up with undertakers or some system that is not just totally in limbo, where a bereavement grant may or may not be given without any reference to its context?