Just over €10,000 was spent by our local hospitals on burials last year of people who were either homeless or had no known family.
That’s according to figures obtained by The Journal.ie under Freedom of Information.
The figures show that the highest spend on burials in the HSE for 2016 was in the South and South Eastern area.
Nationally, over €94,000 was spent in total – up from €91,000 in 2015, but down from €106,000 in 2014.
Locally, St Luke’s Hospital for Carlow/Kilkenny spent just over €3,400 on burials last year – one of the lower figures in the region.
However, Carlow District Hospital spent nearly twice that on burial expenses at €6,336.
That figure is also higher than Wexford General Hospital and just €22 below University Hospital Waterford.
The District Hospital in Carlow primarily cares for older people in the county.
Overall, Cork University Hospital had the highest burial-related spending at over €40,800 in 2016.
