Thousands of mourners thronged the Bray seafront as Sinéad O’Connor was driven to her final resting place.
For many years, the singer had made the Wicklow town her home and for 16 years she raised her children there.
Although most in the crowd felt a deep connection to the singer through her music and activism, there were also those who had known her as a friend and neighbour over the years.
“She was a really nice girl,” one Bray resident told Newstalk reporter Henry McKean.
“She seemed to be really friendly, a good neighbour to us.”
Sinead O’Connor arrives into Bray for the last time. More @tomhappens for @SeanMoncrieff @NewstalkFM 2pm #SineadOConnor pic.twitter.com/SjIPLCV3Gn
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) August 8, 2023
Another woman said she had come down to the seafront because she admired Sinéad’s determination to always speak up - even when what she had to say was not comfortable to listen to.
“We are from Bray but we had to make the effort to come down,” she said.
“I suppose she is someone who always cared more about telling the truth and being who she actually was than she cared about people liking her - potentially to the detriment of her own career.
“She always spoke the truth.”
Join us in Bray as thousands come out to pay their respects to Sinead O’Connor. @tomhappens for @SeanMoncrieff @NewstalkFM from 2pm #SineadOConnor pic.twitter.com/fdRLIJw9Gf
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) August 8, 2023
Gráinne Rafferty came down from Drogheda to hold up a banner that read ‘Thank You ❤️ Sinéad’.
“I just think that Sinéad was a voice for us in a time when we couldn’t always say how we felt,” she said.
“In a different Ireland, she spoke for us and we felt all those things and she was almost, to some extent, like a sin eater; she took the brunt of all the pain from us too, by saying it out loud.”
Another mourner said she felt it was therapeutic to be part of a "collective outpouring of gratitude for who Sinéad was.”
“I’m of the same generation as Sinéad, so I would have lived through the different times with her,” another woman said.
Following her death, Sinéad’s family issued a statement that said the singer had "loved living in Bray and the people in it.”
“With this procession, her family would like to acknowledge the outpouring of love for her from the people of Co Wicklow and beyond, since she left last week to go to another place," they said.
Main image: Mourners for Sinéad O'Connor.
