‘An incredible loss’: Ireland shares memories of Sinéad O’Connor

Shocked by her death, the singer's compatriots are recalling her courage, kindness and humour

The memories have come tumbling out. The little girl who played in a Dublin park. The teenager who sat on school steps strumming a guitar. The pop star who leaned out of a record company's limousine in Washington DC to shout joyous insults at the Pentagon.

Ireland is remembering Sinead O'Connor - and grasping what it has lost. For some people in Glenageary and Dun Laoghaire - the south Dublin suburbs where the singer grew up - the news of her death still had an air of unreality on Thursday.