Michael D. Higgins Leads Tributes As Hundreds Gather For Dolores O’ Riordan’s Removal

President Michael D. Higgins was among hundreds paying tribute to the late Dolores O' Riordan in Co. Limerick today at the much-loved singer's removal.

Family, friends and fans of The Cranberries singer gathered at Cross’s Funeral Home, Ballyneety to bid farewell to the rock singer ahead of her funeral service on Tuesday at St Ailbe’s Church, Ballybricken.

Michael D. Higgins described why it was important for him to be there.

He told reporters:

“I think it's very important to pay tribute to the contribution Dolores made, and I also wanted to meet her mother Eileen and her fabulous huge family of nephews and nieces who were very important to her.”

“It's so profoundly sad that someone so young is taken from us, but it's equally important also to pay tribute to her work and music.

"It is also to the incredible credit of all those who have appreciated the music and the songs and the performances and the band, that they have come out in such numbers to make their tribute.

"It's so appropriate and it is generous, and I hope that her family will get all the support they need.”

Dolores O’Riordan “was a star that shone bright from the very beginning,” says President Higgins pic.twitter.com/GSf068sW5w
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 22, 2018

He went on:

“Limerick is very very proud of her. As her teachers have been saying, she was a star that shone bright from the very beginning, and I wish her peace. Our sympathies go out to her mother Eileen and her family.”

The 46-year-old mother of three was found dead in a London hotel last Monday morning.

She will be laid to rest alongside her late father Terry in Caherelly Cemetery after 11.30am mass Tuesday in St Ailbe’s Church, Ballybricken.