RIP.ie will begin charging funeral directors €100 to publish death notices from today.

The website, which was acquired by The Irish Times Group in 2024, helps the public find information about funerals and recent deaths.

In a statement released in December, the platform said the new fee structure will offer "good value for money".

Paul Brennan, who created the Facebook page Death Notices Carlow, has invited local funeral directors to use his platform free of charge.

"The funeral directors post (on the Facebook page) themselves," he said.

"So any funeral directors that want to become an admin on the page, there's no problem - they have full access to them.

"Although they are competition to each other, they work together and that - so the people of Carlow benefit from it."

A mourner holds a rose next to a coffin, Alamy

Mr Brennan said he will never charge the people of Carlow for death notices.

"They have the option to go to Death Notices Carlow if they can't afford €100 and they'll get it out every bit as quick - even quicker because social media is involved," he said.

Flanagan Funeral Homes director David Flanagan previously told Newstalk Breakfast that he does not believe new fees will lead to a boycott of the website.

"The service provided by RIP.ie is quite incredible and means so much to bereaved families," he said.

"Families used to have notices published in the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Evening Herald and they'd paid between €200 to €300 per notice per newspaper.

"The RIP service offered currently is a great comfort to families to read messages critically which people can put online free of charge.

"There won't be a boycott - the value of that notice for a family to read messages before the funeral has taken place, after the funeral has taken place is of enormous comfort."

RIP.ie has said there are no plans to introduce charges for members of the public to use the website.

Feature image shows a sympathy card with flowers, Alamy.