'Farewell Sinéad': Front pages pay tribute to singer after funeral service
Sinéad O’Connor, at the Point Theatre in Dublin in 1991. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie
The funeral of Sinéad O'Connor has dominated Wednesday's front pages in Ireland, with publications in both the UK and the US also featuring coverage of the legendary singer's funeral.
Much of the front page is dedicated to coverage of the funeral.
Alongside a picture of the crowd that gathered to pay their final respects, reporter Alison O'Reilly writes from Bray: "They came in their thousands, some with flowers, some with placards, and all together on the streets of Bray, they gave Sinéad O’Connor a people’s state funeral.
"A crowd of around 3,000 poured onto the streets of Bray as the cortege carrying the 'daughter of Ireland' was driven through her adopted home in Co Wicklow."
You can read the full article here.
Many of the UK front pages feature some form of coverage of the funeral of Ms O'Connor.
Part of the Guardian's front page is dedicated to Ms O'Connor's funeral, with a picture of the cortege above the headline: "'Outpouring of love' for Sinéad O'Connor".
Inside the paper, Hannah Jane Parkinson paid tribute to her in a column, writing that she "showed mental illness as it truly is".
She writes: "But as well as her incredible music, her wit and verve and strength, her activism, she leaves a legacy of representation for those of us who know what it’s like to have their headphones confiscated in the inpatient wards, who know what it’s like to look in the mirror and see something not quite human.
"Sinéad O’Connor was a truth-teller. Perhaps her most visceral truth of all was how she showed us her suffering — and how she was desperate for it not to be in vain."
The UK Independent uses the top half of their front page to cover the funeral procession through Bray.
"'Thanks Sinéad': Thousands say farewell to singer" is the headline that accompanies the picture.
The Metro, in a similar fashion, opts for a picture from the procession through Bray with "Farewell Sinéad" as a headline.
In a piece from Ms O'Connor's funeral, Ed O'Loughlin said that though she was passionate and "often controversial", Ms O'Connor had become "in the eyes of many, a national treasure, a woman who spoke up for the weak and oppressed, and who took an early stand against the abuses of the Catholic Church in Ireland and elsewhere."
William Booth, the paper's London bureau chief, was in attendance at the funeral, writing: "Several thousand people lined the road. They clapped and whistled. They waved Irish flags and rainbow flags. Some made the sign of the cross. Some raised fists.
"They threw flowers on the roof of the black hearse, which was led by a vintage Volkswagen van, bedecked with speakers, which played her ballads and her rockers — and reggae."
He said that the outpouring made clear that Ms O'Connor was "far more to the Irish people than an ordinary — even extraordinary — musician".
"At times during her life, this country, long dominated by the Catholic Church, found the iconoclastic artist and musician, who was outspoken on taboo subjects including abuse, abortion and her own struggles with mental illness, inconvenient."
The Irish Times dedicates half of their front page on Wednesday to the funeral of Ms O'Connor, with Miriam Lord writing: "For everyone who took the Tuesday morning time to travel and stand waiting along the Strand Road for the cortege to pass, it was about being there.
"Just being there and giving a supremely talented yet oft-times troubled woman – one who touched so many lives for the better – a proper and decent send-off."
In a similar fashion, the majority of the front page of the Irish Independent covers Ms O'Connor's funeral. A picture of people reaching out as the hearse passes accompanies the headline: "A farewell to Sinéad: Crowds line Bray streets to say goodbye".
The Star use their entire front page to cover the funeral with the headline "Sinead's Final Bow".
The Star's sister title uses the same copy to cover the funeral but uses the headline "Farewell, a beloved daughter of Ireland".
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