I read with great interest the article about how Judith Hoad, of County Donegal, was able to fulfill her husband's wishes to be buried in a small orchard of their home.
I called around the area here in Macroom several times in the early 90's about the same request; but the funeral parlours kept hanging up on me. Finally, I got hold of one long enough to ascertain that they thought it was a crank phone call. Evidently, they get quite a few being in that profession. Once it was established I was serious about being buried in my back yard, they informed me it was against Irish law.
Up until 2 years ago it was in no way against Irish law. There was no law! There is very little legislation around burial and such as there is (one may get information through the State Stationery office in Molesworth Street, Dublin), dates mostly from the British era in the nineteenth century. Simply, you write to your County Council asking how to go about getting permission to bury on your own land. They may answer in a variety of ways. If they take the straightforward route with you, all you will need to do is comply with Health regulations in regard to any burial not polluting a source of drinking water, nor any drainage system and that it is possible to dig sufficiently deep to prevent predatory animals from digging down (although, once a body is in a coffin, this is hardly an issue) and that no farm machinery would disturb the coffin/body. Mostly, they seem to term this as the ability to go down 8 feet (the box taking up the 2 ft, so that it ends up 'six foot under'). However, what might put a spanner in the works is new legislation affecting farmers, who are no longer allowed to bury dead animals on their own land. The carcasses have to be removed by Taigeas, though what they do with them is a quandary.
Another method is to avoid funeral directors altogether and get the body laid out by a member of the family, or a nurse, etc. Exhumation is really difficult, because there has to be a really serious reason, which has to be presented to a Coroner who will only give his Certificate allowing exhumation under very strict rules. If you have complied with all the doctor's/registrar's documentation certifying cause of death, etc., your only obstacle is the undertaker, most of whom see to authenticate their decisions using ignorance and prejudice. If they think something is illegal, just because they have never heard of it being done and they THINK it shouldn't be done.
I am by nature a bit unconventional and would like to chisel my own tombstone out of stone from the premises; however, a stone marker is going to require Planning Permission (it's an 'edifice').
Now that I know I can be buried without sermon or ceremony, I'm keen to just be placed alongside my grave hole, and after a few chosen words, be literally kicked into the hole. Then, with the money reserved for the
party after, everyone could have a good time; BUT, with the current legislation as it stands, it's clear that the body must be 'respectably clothed, (though it doesn't specify what in), and be treated at all, times with dignity' - being 'literally kicked' into the hole would come outside that requirement!
My grandfather was cremated and buried in our back yard in Minnesota, U.S.A.; then a Maple tree was planted over him. Only problem with this method was that later we had to sell the house and when I returned, children had killed the tree with their 'Tomahawks' - no more marker. Oh well, that wouldn't be a problem for me as I can think of no one who would care about such things - especially 50 years after.