Hundreds pay respects at Maeve Binchy funeral

Novelist Maeve Binchy's funeral attracted hundreds of mourners (PA)

The life of best-selling novelist Maeve Binchy was remembered at her funeral yesterday.

The worlds of the arts, journalism and politics joined forces to pay tribute to Ireland's national treasure, who died on Monday.

Her husband, the writer Gordon Snell, brother William and sister Joan led hundreds of mourners, including the actress Brenda Fricker, above right, who starred in the screen versions of some of Binchy's books.

Father William Stuart told the congregation in her native Dalkey in south Dublin each had their own memory of the 72-year-old storyteller: "There isn't a person here or beyond here who cannot recall her infectious personality."