Undertakers and priests are predicting that families will turn away
from RIP.ie after it revealed plans to charge €100 per death notice.
The fee, to be introduced in January, has been described by the
website’s owners as ‘good value’, adding that the funds will be used to
‘support the development and enhancement’ of its service.
It will be charged to funeral directors, but there are fears it will
be passed on to customers. This prompted speculation that people will
revert to local radio, social media and other websites.
Sligo funeral director David McGowan
told the Irish Daily Mail that the vast majority of funeral homes have
upgraded their websites in recent years to include both obituaries and
condolences. He believes they will experience a surge in popularity next
year.
‘Since Covid-19, about 80% of funeral homes upgraded their websites
to the same standard as RIP.ie,’ he said. ‘They’ve been growing in
popularity anyway and I’d say when this new fee is introduced, funeral
directors will begin to stray away from RIP.ie and focus a lot more on
their websites. This is some – thing that I believe the new buyers
didn’t consider. I think they might have killed the golden goose,’ he
said.
Mr McGowan predicted this year that RIP.ie would begin to charge for its service, but ‘never expected it would be this high’.
‘NEVER EXPECTED IT WOULD BE THIS HIGH’
He said: ‘Across Europe, online death notices are about half the cost
of what RIP.ie are proposing. Every – one has the right to make money,
but I would have thought the site made enough income on our
advertisements alone. If you do the maths, there are 24,000 deaths
across the Republic every year. Divide that by 52 which gives you 650
deaths per week. At €100 a notice that’s €65,000 they’ll potentially
make every week.’
Mr McGowan added that it was funeral directors who made RIP.ie into
what it is today, adding: ‘What most people don’t realise is that it was
us who made RIP.ie into such a big success as we’re the ones who write
the notices. Writing up an obituary is often a time-consuming process
because you have to type it up, proofread it, run it past the family and
make any necessary amendments,’ he said.
Kerry priest Fr Patsy Lynch described the fee as ‘scandalous’. He
said: ‘The cost isn’t justifiable at all and I believe the new owners
should reflect on their decision.
‘RIP.ie is a fantastic service and has been an invaluable tool for
the public, but I just can’t understand why they’ve decided to charge so
much.
‘We’re now living in a digital world and people have the option to
choose other avenues to post a death notice online,’ he said.
A priest in the west of Ireland, who did not want to be named, told
the Irish Daily Mail that funerals have become increasingly costly in
recent years.
He said some funeral directors often charge up to €50 already for a death notice to be posted on RIP.ie.
INCREASINGLY COSTLY
‘I think the charge for funerals in this country is far too excessive as it is,’ he said.
‘RIP.ie announcing this €100 fee will ultimately be passed onto families, who were already being charged by funeral directors.
‘I’ve no doubt that they will opt to post condolences and death
notices on their own websites instead, but at the end of the day this
service will still be included in the total funeral bill,’ he said.
A spokesman for RIP.ie said that the fee will be used for ‘investing
in our service’ to ‘ensure that RIP.ie remains a trusted resource for
bereaved families across Ireland and for the hundreds of thousands of
people who post messages of condolence to those families on the site
every week.
The website is one of the most popular in the country, boasting 3.3 million users last month alone.
Undertakers and priests are predicting that families will turn away
from RIP.ie after it revealed plans to charge €100 per death notice.
