People gather at Sinéad O’Connor’s former Bray home for ‘last goodbye’

Floral tributes laid outside Sinead O’Connor’s former home in Bray, Co Wicklow, after her death at the age of 56. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Fans are expected to turn out in droves in Co Wicklow to bid farewell to Sinéad O’Connor ahead of her funeral on Tuesday.

The acclaimed singer’s family have asked people who wish to say a “last goodbye” to stand along Bray seafront as the cortege passes by before a private burial.

The procession is expected to start at 10.30am at the Harbour Bar end of the Strand Road and will continue past by her former home, Montebello, where she lived for 15 years.

Early on Tuesday morning, people began gathering outside the singer’s former home.

One of the gatherings in memory of Sinead O’Connor at Barnardo Square in Dublin’s city centre (Brian Lawless/PA)

Since her death on July 26, people have been leaving flowers and paying their respects at the house, which the singer sold in 2021 and which now lies empty.

“Sinéad loved living in Bray and the people in it,” a statement issued by her family said.

“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.”

The Irish Grammy-winning singer was found unresponsive by police at her south-east London home, aged 56.

A host of tributes have flooded in from fans and famous artists across the world in response to her death, including Russell Crowe, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper and Bob Geldof.

Sinead O’Connor was born in Dublin in December 1966 (Sean Dempsey/PA)

Several gatherings were held in the days since O’Connor’s death in Dublin, Belfast and London, where members of the public paid tribute to her legacy as a musician and activist.

She is not expected to receive a Muslim funeral service, a spokesperson for the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland has said.

It had been previously reported that the Grammy winner, who had converted to the Muslim faith in recent years, would be brought to a mosque for her funeral ceremony, which is to be held in private with family members only.

However, Dr Ali Selim, spokesperson for the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in south Dublin, said he has not been contacted by Sinéad’s family.

“The service will be whatever her loved ones wish,” he told the Irish Examiner.

Bray East councillor Erika Doyle thanked the family of the late singer for allowing fans the opportunity to mourn the global superstar, but also the woman who spoke “truth to power”.

“The seafront in Bray is over a kilometre long so there is plenty of opportunity for people to gather and already I can see a lot of activity here this morning," she told BBC Breakfast.

“Last night we ended our summer festival, there was fireworks and a funfair and even as that was going on, there was a constant stream of people turning up with flowers, candles, laying tributes, so we are really happy to be a part of her final journey and say goodbye this morning.

Sinead, although she was attached to Bray and she was very Irish and that was a huge part of her identity, she was a global superstar and that is easy for us to forget here in Bray where we saw her as a mum and as a neighbour, but she touched lives all across the world so we are expecting people here certainly from Bray, from Wicklow, from across Ireland but also from abroad and even the media interest this morning is global, it’s not Irish.

O’Connor, who was born in Dublin in December 1966, released her first album The Lion And The Cobra in 1987.

Her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, followed in 1990, which contained the hit single Nothing Compares 2 U, which saw O’Connor top the charts in countries around the world.

The track earned her multiple Grammy Award nominations including for the prestigious record of the year category, as well as best female pop vocal performance and best music video.

A man looks at flowers outside Sinead O’Connor’s former home in Bray, Co Wicklow (Liam McBurney/PA)

In 1991, she was was named artist of the year by Rolling Stone magazine and took home the Brit Award for international female solo artist.

She released a further eight studio albums, the latest being 2014’s I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss.

In 2018, O’Connor announced that she had converted to Islam and changed her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat.

Following her death, her music management company 67 Management said she had been finishing a new album, reviewing tour dates for next year and was also considering “opportunities” around a movie of her book.

O’Connor’s death is not being treated as suspicious by authorities. A London coroner did not find a medical cause of death and suggested that the post-mortem examination results may take several weeks.