The body of Sinead O'Connor, the iconoclastic musician who died in her apartment in London on July 23 2023, has finally been laid to rest in the place she called home - Bray in Ireland. The service was said to be a multi-faith celebration of O'Connor's life, owing to her conversion to Islam but also her earlier roots as a Catholic growing up in Ireland.
Of the friends and family that attended the private funeral service, current Irish president Michael D. Higgins confirmed his attendance, releasing a statement earlier this morning which read: "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."
"That is why all those who are seeking to make a fist of their life, combining its different dimensions in their own way, can feel so free to express their grief at her loss.”
A fleeting installation honouring Sinéad O’Connor has been unveiled on a hillside overlooking the Irish seaside town of Bray, where she is to be buried; a message in 30ft-tall letters spelling out “ÉIRE ♡ SINÉAD” that was visible from the air appeared on Sunday outside the County Wicklow town, south of Dublin, that was her home for 15 years. The tribute, which used the Irish name for Ireland, appeared 11 days after police found the singer unresponsive in a south London flat, prompting shock and grief around the world. O’Connor was 56
1. A photograph taken on August 8, 2023 shows the coffin and a picture of late Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, in the hearse during her funeral procession outside her former home in Bray, eastern Ireland, ahead of her funeral on August 8, 2023. A funeral service for Sinead O'Connor, the outspoken singer who rose to international fame in the 1990s, is to be held on Tuesday in the Irish seaside town of Bray. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP) (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
The funeral service for Sinead O'Connor, the outspoken singer who rose to international fame in the 1990s, was held on Tuesday in the Irish seaside town of Bray. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP) (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
2. A photograph taken on August 8, 2023 shows the coffin and a picture of late Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, in the hearse during her funeral procession outside her former home in Bray, eastern Ireland, ahead of her funeral on August 8, 2023. A funeral service for Sinead O'Connor, the outspoken singer who rose to international fame in the 1990s, is to be held on Tuesday in the Irish seaside town of Bray. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP) (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
A photograph taken on August 8, 2023 shows the coffin and a picture of late Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, in the hearse during her funeral procession outside her former home in Bray, eastern Ireland, ahead of her funeral on August 8, 2023. A funeral service for Sinead O'Connor, the outspoken singer who rose to international fame in the 1990s, is to be held on Tuesday in the Irish seaside town of Bray.(Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
3. People lay flowers and tributes on the hearse during the funeral procession of late Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, outside the former home in Bray, eastern Ireland, ahead of her funeral on August 8, 2023. A funeral service for Sinead O'Connor, the outspoken singer who rose to international fame in the 1990s, is to be held on Tuesday in the Irish seaside town of Bray. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP) (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
People lay flowers and tributes on the hearse during the funeral procession of late Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, outside the former home in Bray, eastern Ireland. (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
4. People lay flowers and tributes on the hearse during the funeral procession of late Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, outside the former home in Bray, eastern Ireland, ahead of her funeral on August 8, 2023. A funeral service for Sinead O'Connor, the outspoken singer who rose to international fame in the 1990s, is to be held on Tuesday in the Irish seaside town of Bray. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP) (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
People lay flowers and tributes on the hearse during the funeral procession of late Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, outside the former home in Bray, eastern Ireland, ahead of her funeral on August 8, 2023. A funeral service for Sinead O'Connor, the outspoken singer who rose to international fame in the 1990s, is to be held on Tuesday in the Irish seaside town of Bray. (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)