WHILE THERE ARE no plans for a monument to beloved music artist Sinéad O’Connor in Wicklow in the works at the moment, it’s not something that has been ruled out, Leas Cathaoirleach of the Bray Municipal District Erika Doyle said.

Last Friday, 26 July, marked one year since the star’s passing in London. To honour this the day prior, the National Wax Museum in Dublin unveiled a waxwork in O’Connor’s likeness – only to be immediately hit by waves of backlash from fans across the country and beyond. 

The sculpture was pulled from the exhibition the following day, as Sinéad’s brother John O’Connor phoned into RTÉ’s Liveline to express his unhappiness with the waxwork.

“I thought it was hideous,” he said, adding that a statue of the singer in Dublin city would be a more appropriate tribute. 

In Dublin, current policy dictates that a person must be deceased 20 years before a statue can be erected in their honour. On Thursday, The Irish Mirror reported that Lord Mayor James Geoghegan supported calls for a policy change that would allow the council to erect a monument in her honour much sooner.

The idea of a monument to O’Connor being placed in Bray, Co Wicklow, where no such policy exists has also been touted, though Green Party councillor and Leas Cathaoirleach of Bray Municipal District Erika Doyle told The Journal that there were “no plans” for such currently in the works.

“We started hearing suggestions and comments about this immediately after Sinéad’s death,” Doyle said. “Her former home on Bray Seafront became the focal point for people gathering.

“We all loved her, and we miss her, and in terms of there being anything from monuments or anything like that erected, no, there hasn’t been a conversation, and even when that happens, it will need to come and be led very much by the family.”

Customarily, monuments in Bray take the form of benches, Doyle said.

O’Connor still has immediate and extended family members in Bray, the councillor said, and any monument to her will be done “in consultation with the family and very much respect the family’s wishes”.

“At present, no, there are no plans. That’s not to say it won’t happen, but I think when it happens, it needs to be done right,” Doyle concluded, adding that she was a lifelong fan of the singer.

“I think I would love to see a little bit of her legacy live on in Bray in the form of a permanent memorial.”