Sinead O’Connor’s former home in Ireland being used as shrine to the singer

11 August 2023

Sinead O’Connor’s former home in Ireland has been turned into a shrine to the singer.

Sinead O’Connor’s former home in Ireland has been turned into a shrine to the singer

Even though it was sold in 2021, the house is empty and is being covered with flowers, photos and candles in honour of the ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ star, who was found dead in London aged 56 on 26 July after she moved to the city for the first time in 23 years to work on what turned out to be her final album.

Sources say hundreds of locals and fans of the singer have been gathering outside her former house, called Montebello, where she had lived for 15 years, after her family asked that people stand along the Strand Road for “a last goodbye”.

The home in Bray, County Wicklow, where Sinead’s funeral was held on Tuesday (08.08.23), now also has a pile of handwritten notes addressed to Sinead thanking her for her human rights activism, courage – and music.

A pink chair was placed outside the home in memory of Sinead, as she used to sit on it smoking and chatting to passers-by during the Covid lockdowns to make them feel like they had company.

Sinead is beloved in the town that hosted her funeral as she is said to have paid struggling locals’ medical and therapy bills if they couldn’t afford them.

Sinead’s son Shane, 17, took his life 18 months before her death after he fled a hospital where he was on suicide watch.

Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Bray, Co Wicklow in Sinead’s native Ireland as her funeral cortege drove through its streets.

They placed a sea of flowers on the black hearse carrying the ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ singer’s body, while a VW campervan drove ahead of the vehicle blasting out her hits and those of her idol Bob Marley.

Sir Bob Geldof and U2’s Bono and The Edge were among Sinead’s celebrity friends at her private funeral service, which is said to have multi-denominational.

Sinead’s final resting place is marked with blooms removed from the top of her casket and those thrown onto her hearse by well-wishers.

A brass plaque on a wooden plinth reads: “Sinead O'Connor. Born 8th December 1966. Died 26th July 2023.”

Her grave at the cemetery near Dublin, opened in 1865, lies along a wall close to the entrance in an area called ‘The Garden’ and is surrounded by Catholic graves.

It has also emerged since her death her final recording of ‘The Skye Boat Song’ for the ‘Outlander’ drama, which has been hailed as “haunting”.