Vigil held for Sinead O’Connor as dozens pay tribute to ‘beautiful soul’

The Grammy-winning Irish singer died on Thursday aged 56.

Dozens have gathered to pay their respects to Sinead O’Connor (Damien Eagers/PA) (PA Wire)

Dozens of people have gathered outside the Wall of Fame in Dublin to pay their respects to the “beautiful soul” of Sinead O’Connor.

Those gathered in Temple Bar spoke about the influence her music had on their lives, and called for her death to “light an absolute fire under all of us” to tackle how mental health and children are treated in Ireland.

O’Connor died on Thursday aged 56. The Grammy-winning singer, originally from Dublin, was found unresponsive at a home in south London on Wednesday.

The crowd sang two of her most famous songs, Black Boys On Mopeds and Nothing Compares 2 U.

One attendee said O’Connor was a “model and activist that I always look up to. I never got the opportunity to meet her in person but I would like to honour her beautiful soul today and hopefully she is in a better place and God bless her”.

Speaking of the singer’s social impact, another said: “Those conversations I don’t have, but Sinead the celebrity did, the A-list celebrity. Let’s have those conversations every day, let’s keep that up, let’s not stop it.

“Let’s listen to her music, it’s a banger, it’s so good.”

The portrait of O’Connor in Temple Bar was lit up, with flowers and photographs left at the foot of the wall which features other stars of the Irish music industry such as U2, Bob Geldof and Luke Kelly.

I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much for a stranger but I think she held bits of generations of this nation in her heart

Vigil attendee

Politicians, musicians, actors and charities from across the world have paid tribute to O’Connor for her contributions to the music industry and raising awareness of social issues.

She made headlines in 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on US TV show Saturday Night Live, sparking a ferocious backlash.

The musician, who spent time in a notorious Magdalene laundry, set up to house “fallen women”, frequently spoke out about the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

Text on a mural of O’Connor outside Temple Bar reads: “Sinead you were right all along. We were wrong. So sorry.”

A woman at the vigil spoke of the impact of O’Connor speaking out about institutional abuse, saying: “I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much for a stranger but I think she held bits of generations of this nation in her heart.

“She was saying things before we could say them. She held our pain about the institutionalised sexual abuse, the threat of being sent… to a Magdalene laundry if you misbehaved, and she held that along with the courage that we weren’t able to fully live, and so when she died yesterday it felt like that part of us went with her.”

Another added: “She stood up for people, she stood up for what was right. She always did what she thought was the right thing, she acted without consequence or without thought of what might happen to her.”

She described O’Connor as “a free spirit… an incredible artist, an incredible lyricist and musician”.

The vigil heard a poem written in memory of O’Connor.

“She kicked down the barriers in her Doc Marten boots, bald-headed deliverer of unwanted truths,” the speaker read.

“The industry wanted her to change who she was, so she shaved off her hair and broke unwritten laws.

“Truthful witness, fiery, fierce and bold to the core, goddess of 90s she bellowed her roar. The world wasn’t ready for what she had to say, stifled by a church that hurts us to this day.

“Nothing compared to her and no-one came near, her voice was her weapon and her words are her spear.

“For Sinead, our sister, was always ahead of her time, love and human compassion perhaps her only crime. She used her music to protest, to open our eyes, I hope the next generation will learn from her cries.

“She, a young woman, was what was needed back then, so let’s rip up more pictures, expose the corruption of men and women who have lost their souls to greed. For they tried to bury Sinead, and forgot she is a seed.”

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