Actor Russell Crowe has described how Sinéad O'Connor 'touched his heart so deeply' when he met her in Dalkey.
The 'Nothing Compares 2 U' singer died in July last year at the age of 56.
Her passing sparked a global outpouring of grief, with leading figures from music, politics and beyond highlighting the many ways she touched people's hearts.
On Newstalk Breakfast Crowe recalled seeing her 'flash' past him outside a pub in 2022.
"That was a very interesting evening," he said.
"I was just there with a couple of other friends and one of them was friends with her.
"She sort of flashed past, it was a cold night... but then he caught up with her about 30 metres down the road.
"They stopped and talked and then he sort of waved me over.
"I went to join them... this is somebody who touched my heart so deeply".
Sinead O'Connor photographed in May 2007. Image: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / AlamyCrowe said O'Connor greeted him in the most casual way.
"I walked up to her on this sort of misty night and she just turned to me and I think the very first thing she said was, 'Oh, it's you Russell'.
"The most causal thing, I'd never met her before in my life but it was just the most casual thing.
"We had a grand conversation, what I like to describe as a conversation without fences.
"We can be on one topic and that leads dramatically or swiftly to something else that seems to bear no relevance but at the same time has a resonance connected to it all".
Russell Crowe at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards in 2001. Image: PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / AlamyThe Oscar-winning actor is currenting shooting a film called Nuremberg in Budapest in which he plays Hermann Goering.
"I shaved for the first time in five years a couple of months ago and it was a very odd experience," he said.
Crowe said his face looked similar to a "weird-looking fish" for the first few days afterwards.
Crowe and his band The Gentleman Barbers will play Dublin's Gaiety Theatre in July.
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