MacGowan's sister says he 'dreamed of being a teller of stories, the singer of songs'

Shane MacGowan’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke and his sister, Siobhán, both touched on what he meant to them as they paid a special tribute to him at the conclusion of his Requiem Mass in Nenagh.

Siobhán told how though born in Kent, Shane’s veins “ran deep with Irish blood”.

Siobhán told how “he did what he dreamed” and told of his love for Ireland.

Before her eulogy, Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill had people dancing and clapping to Fairytale of New York, after which she said: “I think Shane would have enjoyed that actually, that’s some sendoff for my brother.”

She told mourners how the church in Nenagh was the one that their mother, Therese, had often attended and he would accompany her if he were at home.

She told how “his love of literature and love of music” were evident from a young age, and how he loved his mother’s home in Tipperary, describing how he “adored the magical mayhem of this place”.

Recalling getting a Lifetime Achievement from President Higgins, Siobhán said that her brother cried, “probably because our beloved mother, who had died just one year before, was not there to see the moment - although somehow we both knew she was - and he probably also cried because to receive that award from the President of Ireland meant more than any other”.

She remembered “running out into the fields” with Shane and sitting down by the fire at sunset to sing songs and listen to old stories.

“Those long summer days and nights, that love and devotion to Tipperary and Ireland gave birth to a dream.

“He dreamed one day of becoming a teller of stories, the singer of songs,” she said. “When the President put that award in his hands, he knew he had achieved that dream.

“You did what you dreamed, you did what you said you were going to do in those long ago days in county Tipperary and you did it with such heart and fire, a fire that is not dimmed by death. For you have lit that fire and it burns now in Ireland and all over the world.”

His wife Victoria told the gathering that she thought, when they met when she was 16-years-old that she had “won the lottery”, and had fallen in love with his soul straight away.

Though it was some years before they started dating, she said that she “felt we were destined to be together”.

“I think that I loved his physical body and I loved his presence and I loved his smile and I loved his, his voice,” she said.

Victoria revealed that Shane hated funerals and went to very few, save for his mother’s and Ronnie Drew’s, as he “didn’t like the idea of death. He didn’t want to talk about his own death, ever. He didn’t believe he was going to die, ever”.

Outlining Shane’s generous and caring nature, Victoria said that he could never pass a homeless person on the street without stopping and helping them.

Touching on his image, and substance abuse, she said that Shane was someone who “was not really interested in living a normal life”.

“He didn’t want a nine-to-five job or a mortgage or any of that stuff,” she said.

She also described Shane as someone who was creative, “intensely religious” and prayed daily.

“He was very grateful to be alive,” she said.

She asked those present to give that compassion to anyone who might be struggling with addiction.

“Next time you see somebody who you’re thinking ‘that guy is just an alcoholic or drug addict’, stop. Give thought to it and just let yourself just consider giving a bit of compassion and respect to that person, that would be my final message,” she said.