Legendary Irish musician Eithne Vallely dies after being struck by lorry

Tributes are pouring in for the 'pioneering musician, collector and champion of traditional Irish music'.

In a statement, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said that it received a report at around 8.20am on Friday, 21 August, of a single-vehicle crash involving a lorry and a female pedestrian in the Portadown Road area of Armagh.

Officers attended, alongside colleagues from other emergency services. Medical treatment was provided to the pedestrian, but she was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The PSNI confirmed the victim of the crash as being Eithne Vallely.

Ms Vallely has been described as being one of the key figures in the development of traditional Irish music over the past 50 years.

Able to play the fiddle, piano, tin whistle, and uillean pipes, the musician was born in Donegal in 1945.

She later moved to Armagh, where she and her husband Brian Vallely founded the Armagh Pipers Club.

The club paid tribute to its co-founder with a statement, reading: "It is with great sorrow that we share the news that Armagh Pipers Club's Director of Music, Eithne Vallely, has died at the age of 81.

"Our heartfelt sympathy goes to her husband Brian and their family.

"Eithne brought music into the lives of children for six decades. Her enormous contribution to Irish traditional music was recognised nationally with many awards and honours.

"Funeral in St Patrick's Cathedral on Tuesday."

Dáire Hughes, Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh, also posted a tribute to Ms Vallely, which reads: "I am deeply saddened at the news Eithne Vallely has passed away.

"Eithne was a giant of Irish cultural life in Armagh and across Ireland - a pioneering musician. Her decades of contribution to music and cultural expression cannot be overstated, evidenced by her countless awards and honours.

"Eithne had a lifelong passion for traditional Irish music and was tremendously gifted, with strong musical lineage and a skill fostered on the tin whistle in primary school that would evolve into piano, violin and more.

“Eithne was not only a great musician, but she had been collecting and recording traditional music from an early age.

"She passed this passion on to her family and the wider community through the founding of the Armagh Pipers Club with her husband, Brian. Her legacy will live on through them and the countless others she inspired.

"My sincerest condolences to Brian, Eithne’s children, grandchildren and the wider Vallely clan, her friends, neighbours and those who had the pleasure of playing music with her, or learning from her."

The PSNI are appealing for witnesses to the lorry crash to come forward.

"Anyone with information about the collision or who has dash-cam footage of what happened is asked to contact police using the witness appeal form at www.reporting.psni.police.uk/appeals quoting reference 247 21/08/26 or call 101," its statement reads.

"You can also submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form at www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/, or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/."