Irish music legends attend Sinéad O’Connor’s funeral in Bray

Simon Kelly

Sinéad O'Connor funeral attended by Irish music legends

Fans said goodbye outside the singer’s old home.

A host of Irish music legends were among the thousands of mourners today as the country said goodbye to Sinéad O’Connor.

A huge crowd lined the streets of Bray seafront as the legendary singer’s cortege passed through on the way to the private funeral service.

In attendance at the funeral services were the likes of U2 members Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton, Bob Geldof and Damien Dempsey.

Shortly after midday, the hearse carrying Sinéad made its final journey along the seafront, stopping outside of her home of 15 years, Montebello.

The hearse was led by a Volkswagen Transporter which played Bob Marley’s ‘Natural Mystic’ on loudspeakers.

The Irish Mirror reported that Geldof, Sinead’s ex-husband Frank Bonadio and her father travelled in the car behind.

The Boomtown Rats frontman told the audience at Cavan Calling festival last week that he had been in contact with Sinéad in very recent times, and in light of the tragic news “to just keep on in the face of such tragedies.”

He added that Sinéad was a good friend of his, but acknowledged that “some of her texts were laden with desperation and despair and sorrow and some were ecstatically happy,” lamenting that this was in her nature.

Thousands gather in Bray to say goodbye to Sinéad O’Connor

Before the procession drove past, fans broke into heartfelt renditions of the singer’s biggest hits, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and ‘Mandinka’, while laying flowers around her old house, which now lays uninhabited.

Also in attendance at the funeral was Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina. In a statement released this morning, President Higgins said:

“The outpouring of grief and appreciation of the life and work of Sinead O’Connor demonstrates the profound impact which she had on the Irish people.

“The unique contribution of Sinead involved the experience of a great vulnerability combined with a superb, exceptional level of creativity that she chose to deliver through her voice, her music and her songs.

“The expression of both, without making any attempt to reduce the one for the sake of the other, made her contribution unique – phenomenal in music terms, but of immense heroism.

“However, achieving this came from the one heart and the one body and the one life, which extracted an incredible pain, perhaps one too much to bear.”