Sinéad O’Connor: Fans applaud and throw flowers at hearse as funeral cortege passes her former Irish home

In an emotional farewell to an iconic musician, fans accompanied the hearse bearing Sinead O’Connor’s coffin along the Bray seafront in County Wicklow. The casket is covered with blue flowers, while mourners cast red and yellow flowers onto the vehicle’s roof, accompanied by a campervan playing her music.

Ann, who works in the CrepeAlicious kiosk opposite Sinead O’Connor’s Bray home, said the singer had “no airs or graces” about her. She said: “When Sinead lived over there I had the kiosk here, and she used to come over for an ice cream with her younger son.

“She’d come over for her little ice cream with sprinkles. She was lovely. Very down to earth, very ordinary. She’d have a bit of a craic as well.” Ann said she had considered not opening the kiosk out of respect for the late singer.

She added: “But then I thought, Sinead loved the colour, she used to comment on the colours of the balls (hanging outside the kiosk).” She said it was an “amazing” turnout to say a final goodbye to the singer.

Margaret Gatling described Sinead O’Connor’s death as “a moment in time” and said the singer had “gone too soon”.

Speaking in Bray, Ms Gatling said: “She was iconic, wasn’t she?” She added she had text messages from people living in Brisbane and Sydney about the funeral. She said: “We had to pay our respects.”

Sara Mohamed said she had travelled to Bray to pay her respects to Sinead O’Connor. She said: “(I’m) a massive fan of Sinead and she’ll be missed. She was an Irish legend. As an Irish Muslim, I felt that I should be here on behalf of my community to pay my respects to the Irish legend she was.

“I just think she was massively outspoken and she spoke for minorities who didn’t have a voice. And that’s very admirable and very brave.”