“Sinéad O’Connor was a lighthouse in Ireland’s sea of dark madness, and her light will never go out.”
There is a widespread sense of sadness across Ireland this week with the news of Sinead O’Connor’s death, at the age of 56.
The hugely talented singer was a giant of a figure, one that left her mark on Irish society since she burst onto the scene in the late 1980s.
Helen Cullen, the renowned Portlaoise published author, was among the writers to pay tribute in a specially commissioned Irish Times feature this week.
“It seems impossible that the warrior queen could fall, and we are shocked to discover that she was human after all, despite the fact that she was the most open of mortals about her humanity,” added Helen.
“In truth, though, Sinéad will live forever. Not just through her mesmerising music, but also in the spirit she evoked in the armies of women who followed in her wake.
“Many men loved and esteemed her too, of course, but Sinéad mattered to women, and Irish women in particular, in a profound way.
“She broke down seemingly impenetrable doors so that we could walk through, challenging every stereotype, questioning received wisdom and always speaking difficult truths.
“Sinéad could have used that voice of hers to become the biggest pop star on the planet but instead she chose to become a protest poet.
“I’m not sure it gets much more inspiring than that. As a young, impressionable, barely teenager, I watched a grainy VHS tape of Sinéad performing at the 1989 Grammys and felt the world shift. The coolest woman on the planet was Irish and doing things in exactly her own way. Suddenly anything was possible.
The world did not go easy on Sinéad, and people were often cruel, intolerant and mocking towards her. The shame is all theirs. I hope she knew how beloved she was, that she is remembered for what mattered – her art, her activism, her empathy.”
You can read the piece in full here.
From Portlaoise, Helen Cullen is the author of The Truth must Dazzle Gradually and The Lost Letters of William Woolf.
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