Excerpt:
Bodies can be buried without coffins from next month for the first time in more than 120 years under new regulations approved by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.
It has been illegal to bury a body in any cemetery unless it was enclosed in a coffin since burial regulations were introduced in 1888.
A change to the regulations will mean that from June 1st cemeteries will be allowed accept "uncoffined bodies". The Victorian rules stated that no burials could occur "unless the body be enclosed in a coffin of wood or some other sufficiently strong material"