Thousands attend wake for 'trailblazer' Oscar-winning actor and singer Glen Hansard

Thousands of people filled the streets in Dublin to pay tribute to singer and actor Glen Hansard.

Hansard, 56, was killed in a motorcycle crash on the outskirts of the Irish capital last week, hours after taking part in a trad session at The Wren's Nest pub.

Best known for his Oscar-winning song for the movie Once - called Falling Slowly - which he co-wrote with Marketa Irglova, as well as for his role in The Commitments and for being the frontman of Irish band The Frames, he was interred at the Baroque Chapel at the Irish Museum of Modern Art at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Monday.

Mourners queued to see his wicker coffin - which was laid on a table adorned with greenery and apples - and pay their respects.

'He really was a trailblazer'

Celebrities at the wake included DJ Sinead Ni Mhordha, who was among the first in the queue on Monday, and who said Hansard had "a raw talent that is joyous and all-consuming and life-changing".

"I interviewed him at the Choice Music Prize in Vicar Street when he was up for the Choice Music Prize for the Swell Season album, and he was just so lovely, so humble," she told the Press Association.

"He was really gracious with where he'd got to with his success... He's done so much for Irish music. He really was a trailblazer for a lot of singer-songwriters, he brought people under his wing.

"He had such a generous spirit, and he always was the Pied Piper, I guess that's how I would have known him, in terms of getting together sessions and things like that.

"He was a really warm, lovely man."

Trad musicians were also seen playing under the stained glass window in the chapel, where two of Hansard's guitars were placed at the foot of his coffin.

Hansard also played Outspan Foster in the cult hit The Commitments, the 1991 film based on Roddy Doyle's debut novel. He performed as a musician with The Frames and the duo The Swell Season, and also as a solo act.

During his career, Hansard collaborated with artists such as Eddie Vedder, Bono and Bruce Springsteen.

A clip of him performing on stage with Springsteen in 2013 was shared on his Instagram account less than 24 hours before his death.

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Hansard was well-known for busking with the U2 frontman on Dublin's Grafton Street every Christmastime, and was involved with various charitable and social causes.

He also played a powerful rendition of Fairytale of New York during the funeral for Shane MacGowan in 2023.

Ireland has seen a surge in road deaths in recent years. Another man, a motorist in his 40s, was killed in Co Clare on Wednesday morning.

Some 107 people have been killed on Irish roads this year, 15 more than at the same time last year, which at the time had seen the highest number of deaths in a decade.

(c) Sky News 2026: Thousands attend wake for 'trailblazer' Oscar-winning actor and singer Glen Hansard