Sinead O’Conner (1966-2023): A wanderer, priest and prophet

Dr Margaret Kennedy pays tribute to the Irish singer-songwriter who was campaigning for sexual abuse in the Church to be exposed long before it became mainstream

Born Sinead Marie Bernadette O’Conner on 8 December 1966 in the Cascia House nursing home – where I, too, was born. Died 26 July 2023, aged 56.

I did not know Sinead O’Connor, nor did I ever meet her. But I do know something about her life. I would like to start from a point of reference that many do not understand; she was a prophet.

Growing up in Ireland in the 60s was to grow up in a Country bedevilled with a type of Christianity that was cruel, backward, patriarchal and impossibly stifling. You did what you were told by the priest, the bishop and the nuns. You were never free. Every Catholic family became somewhat damaged by that, even if no overt abuse took place.