Sinead O’Connor used to ‘beg’ on the streets of Dublin as a child

‘We were good at begging; we had to be or we would have starved’

Sinead O’Connor has revealed that she used to beg on the streets of Dublin as a child.

Writing in her new memoir Rememberings, the Irish singer-songwriter recalled the struggles of her youth, including time spent begging with her sister, Eimear.

“We had tramped the streets of Dublin together as children,” writes O’Connor. “We’d go to the Kingfisher chip shop with money we’d begged from strangers by telling them we needed to buy a bus ticket home.”

“We were a strange mixture: middle-class kids with filthy clothes that had not been washed for years, begging. We were good at begging; we had to be or we would have starved.”

In the book, O’Connor also recalls her traumatic home life, alleging that she suffered severe physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother, claims that she has made in interviews going back decades.

O’Connor grew up in Glenageary, County Dublin, and was the third of five siblings.

Elsewhere in the book, O’Connor also described her fling with musician Peter Gabriel, and claimed that she was encouraged to get an abortion by a record label executive.

Rememberings is published by Sandycove and will be available in hardback from 1 June.