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LAST UPDATE | 17 mins ago
THE FUNERAL OF Glen Hansard at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin has come to a close.
The musician and frontman of The Frames died at the age of 56 in a road crash at the Strawberry Beds in west Dublin in the early hours of the morning of 29 July.
Inside the cathedral, mourners heard tributes made in speech, song and poetry to the late singer, including from his younger brother and his wife Maire.
The service was open to the public but organisers said in advance that access inside the cathedral would be “extremely limited” due to the numbers expected. People began queueing early this morning to attend.
Two television screens and a sound system were installed in St Patrick’s Park so that people who were unable to get inside could still watch and listen to the service.
Huge crowds gathered in the park to watch the service together and pay their respects.
The service has now concluded and the crowd has begun to disperse in St Patrick’s Park.
A private family cremation will take place this afternoon.
The funeral service for Glen Hansard has come to an end, the Cathedral bells are ringing, and the crowd is clapping for a rendition of 'Forever Young' performed by Liam Ó Mapnlaí and the host of musicians in attendance @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/1Ir16PrvjY
— Andrew Walsh (@AndyBreathnach) August 4, 2026
As the funeral service for Glen Hansard draws to a close, hundreds of people remain gathered outside St Patrick's Cathedral, having stayed throughout to pay their respects @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/jmKSeivkAD
— Andrew Walsh (@AndyBreathnach) August 4, 2026
As the service concludes, Liam Ó Maonlaí leads a performance of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young with a number of musicians who have performed during the service and others who haven’t, including Bono and The Edge, Damien Dempsey, Damien Rice, Paddy Casey, Markéta Irglová and Imelda May.
They continue to sing and applaud as Glen Hansard’s coffin is brought out of the cathedral.
Our reporter Rónán Duffy has sent this from St Patrick’s Park:
St Patrick’s Park next to the cathedral is bathed in sunshine as Glen Hansard’s funeral service is broadcast to the hundreds listening on. It’s hard to gauge numbers, but the one thing clear is that the vast majority of those who took time out their day to come here are staying for the entire service.
The portaloos, hydration station and parched grass give the impression of a festival, but it’s very much a funeral feel as people are respectfully silent and in the most part have the phones away, journalists aside.
Some people are recognising faces and going in for hugs as if meeting an old friend and others just enjoying the sunshine.
The most upbeat moment greeted the performance of I Can See God by Glen Hansard’s brother Gary. Bono’s recitation of Beautiful Day as a poem certainly drew some quizzical looks but the U2 singer whipping out his phone to play a voice message from Patti Smith did add some levity and stardust to the occasion.
The park next to St Patrick’s Cathedral in the heart of the city is certainly a beautiful location and one could imagine it being a model for prominent funerals in the future.
We are approaching the end of the service.
The choir in St Patrick’s Cathedral has sung Be Thou My Vision and is now singing An Irish Blessing.
U2 frontman Bono is now addressing the congregation.
He says Hansard had over 187,000 “best friends”, including those watching the funeral in the park outside and online, and that even people who haven’t met him were best friends.
“Everyone who met him, they just remember the day they met him I think,” he says.
Bono then plays a voice message from Patti Smith, which he says is a lullaby for Hansard’s family and friends, before reading the U2 song Beautiful Day as a poem.
A number of musical performances have taken place at the funeral.
Glen Hansard’s brother Gary performed I Can See God with Frank Killeen.
This was followed by a performance of Old Note by Lisa O’Neil, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Joseph Doyle, Michael Buckley.
Damien Dempsey is now performing Sing All Our Cares Away with The Frames.
Before he began, he said Hansard “used to slag me” by saying “Dempsey, you’re only half a northsider. Your da’s from Pearse Street.”
“200 yards south,” he pointed out to the congregation to laughter.
Crowds of people remain outside St Patrick’s Cathedral watching the funeral.
Hundreds of fans have gathered outside St Patrick's Cathedral for the funeral of musician Glen Hansard.
— Andrew Walsh (@AndyBreathnach) August 4, 2026
During a performance of 'I Can See God' by Glen's brother Gary Hansard, members of the crowd could be seen visibly moved by the music @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/h2rRrsYKZy
The Very Reverend Dr William Morton says there are some people who are remembered not only for what they achieved, but for the goodness they brought to the lives of others.
“Glen was one of those people,” he says, adding that his “untimely death” is a profound loss to his wife and son, the rest of his family, friends and “the world of music in Ireland and far beyond these shores”.
He says those who knew Hansard speak of his generosity, humility, warmth and instinctive kindness.
“He always had time and compassion for people,” he says. “He responded quietly to human need. He never seemed to lose the ability to see the individual behind the crowd.”
He recalls that when public health restrictions made the Grafton Street busk impossible during the Covid-19 pandemic, Hansard and other musicians gathered at the cathedral for a virtual busk.
He says they raised over €1.5 million for the Simon Community, and reminded people “that music is a gift not simply to perform, but to bring comfort, dignity and hope to those who need it most”.
“Glen’s life, therefore, reminds us that in a world so often captivated by success and acclaim, it is kindness offered freely and consistently that is remembered longest and leaves the deepest mark.
“Kindness will always live on in the hearts of those whose lives we have touched. Glen understood that. In the end, that is the greatest legacy anyone can leave.”
The Song of Good Hope is now being performed by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Markéta Irglová – who starred alongside Hansard in Once – Thomas Bartlett and The Frames.
Saaritsa thanks Hansard “for the life we shared, searching for truth and beauty side by side”.
“We found it in our son, Christy,” she says, adding that he is not there as he is too young “to witness or understand an event of such scale”.
“The bright spirit he inherited from his father is with us,” she says.
Saaritsa ends with an early poem she says she wrote for Hansard ”in return for the songs he wrote for me”.
It is followed by a standing ovation in the cathedral.
Glen Hansard’s wife Maire Saaritsa is now speaking.
She begins by thanking a number of gardaí “for coming to Glen’s aid after the accident and for the humanity they’ve shown me in my most desperate hour”.
“I can find no adjective for the kind of support the family has been shown this past week. The word is hidden somewhere in the look in people’s eyes and in the depth of their good deeds,” she says.
“None of this could have been done without you. Most of whom I’ve not even met yet.
“I owe my deepest gratitude to all our good friends who have spared no effort to give me to guide me through this time.
Hansard’s younger brother Richard is now speaking.
He described him as ‘the bard, the troubadour, the friend’, but he said before he was any of those things, he was ‘a son, a brother, and I promise you, a mad uncle’.
He said there was a 16-year age gap between the brothers and that Hansard made him feel that the world “was a far more magical place than it seemed at the time to a young, shy boy from north Dublin”.
“Glen wanted to know, to really know what was going on deeply, not just on the surface, not just the day to day. He wanted to know everything: your weakness, your struggles, who you were,” he said.
“He wanted to know the mist and gist of all of how he could help, and he had a way of making you feel like you mattered.”
He said Hansard “had an impact on so many – look at this room – but those first ripples and waves began at kitchen tables in Ballymun and Killester, and it’s at those kitchen tables that, for us, he will remain”.
Richard said his older brother once said that when you lost someone, you don’t really lose them. “You inherit the best parts of them, and if you have the strength and the will, you will gain them back, and you will inherit the best parts of them.
“And we have. We have inherited all the magical, colourful words, hugs, talks, madness, sadness, insightful manic beauty, that a brother, an uncle, a husband and a father could ever give.”
He ends by thanking his brother, followed by a long round of applause from the congregation.
Irish trad musician Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich reads a poem which he wrote for Glen Hansard.
Before the begins reading, he describes Hansard as ‘a true Dub’, which is met with a round of applause from the crowd outside the cathedral.
‘Your name is in the mouth’s of people. You of the big heart, generous and truthful. A one-off person whose likes again we won’t meet’ is one of the lines of the poem.
‘I’ll be fond of you forever Glen, you beautiful, beautiful man,’ he finishes, to applause from the congregation.
Silence across St. Patrick's Park as Hansard's bandmate Colm Mac Con Iomaire plays Port na bPúcai with Séamus Ong and Liam Ó Maonlaí.
— Rónán Duffy (@ronanduffy.bsky.social) 4 August 2026 at 14:01
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After the first and second readings, Colm Mac Con Iomaire performs Port na bPúcaí – or The Fairy Lament – alongside Uilleann piper Séamus Ong and Liam Ó Maonlaí of the Hothouse Flowers on the piano.
The service began with Críost Liom, sung by Peadar Ó Riada and Cór Chúil Aodha, the west Cork Gaeltacht male choir.
The Very Reverend Dr William Morton welcomed the congregation and said Hansard’s wife and family appreciated the support for the service, which was being held “in thanksgiving for and in celebration of Glen’s life, talent, generosity and kindness”.
Gifts were then brought to the altar, which included an acoustic guitar presented by Hansard’s Frames bandmate Colm Mac Con Iomaire.
U2′s Bono arrived with his wife Ali Hewson shortly before the service began, as did musician Mundy.
Glen Hansard’s coffin has arrived at St Patrick’s Cathedral ahead of the funeral service.
Applause rang out from the crowd as it passed.
Applause, music and funeral bells as Glen Hansard's coffin arrives at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Wicker casket is adorned with wild flowers
— Rónán Duffy (@ronanduffy.bsky.social) 4 August 2026 at 13:26
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More musicians have arrived for the funeral, including Cait O’Riordan of The Pogues and Irish folk legend Finbar Furey.
The service is due to begin in around 10 minutes’ time.
Paul McGuinness, the former U2 manager, also arrived in the last while – as did broadcaster and singer with Something Happens, Tom Dunne.
Our reporter Rónán Duffy is outside the cathedral waiting for the service to begin.
Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has arrived, as have the party’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin and MEP Lynn Boylan.
Actors Steve Coogan and Peter McDonald arrived a short time ago, with Chris O’Dowd also in attendance.
Irish film director John Carney, who directed Once, has arrived for the musician’s funeral.
Carney was also a bandmate of Hansard’s. He was the bassist in The Frames for three years and also directed some of their music videos.
More famous faces have begun to arrive for the service, including Irish singer-songwriters Hozier and Declan O’Rourke.
Angeline Ball has also arrived. The Irish actress starred alongside Hansard in the 1991 classic The Commitments.
Two large television screens and a sound system have been installed in St Patrick’s Park, adjoining the cathedral, so that people unable to get inside can listen to the service.
The park is already filled with people.
A number of musicians have begun arriving for the funeral in the last while, including veteran music writer and promoter BP Fallon, Jerry Fish and Imelda May.
There has been an outpouring of grief in Ireland and abroad since Hansard’s death.
On Sunday, thousands queued to pay their respects at a public wake in the Baroque Chapel at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.
One couple in their 50s told The Journal about how they remember following his music during their college years, and their delight at watching him win an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2008 for his work in the film Once, but most importantly, their respect for his campaigning work on behalf of homeless people.
Gwen from Kildare said that she and her partner followed him “all the way through” his career.
“We grew up with him as part of our background as part of Irish culture, he was such a big name,” her partner Peter said.
“It was really what he did with the buskers for the homeless every Christmas. He was the one who got Bono on board, what he’s done for people, it shows here today there’s so many people here and it’s not surprising, because he touched everyone,” Gwen added.
Fans and mourners have been queueing since before 9.30am this morning to get inside St Patrick’s Cathedral for the funeral.
The Journal‘s Rónán Duffy spoke to some of those who were waiting to get in, including Clarissa Unger, a Washington DC-based longtime fan on Hansard’s music who said she was on holiday in Barcelona with her husband when she heard the news of his passing.
“We were meant to be travelling around Spain, and immediately when we found the news of when the memorial, the funeral, was going to be, we changed our flights to come here,” she said.
“I’m just a huge admirer of Glen and his music and all that he’s done. So it just it felt wrong to not be here. I just wanted to be here amongst all the other folks who are here to honour him and just appreciate all that he’s done.”
Good afternoon.
The funeral service for musician Glen Hansard is taking place in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin from 1.30pm.
We’ll be covering it live here as it happens.
If you would like to watch the service when it begins, a livestream can be found at the top of this liveblog.
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