Shane MacGowan honoured by An Post in new stamp collection

An Post has unveiled four special stamps to honour Shane MacGowan, Séamus Begley, Christy Dignam, and Sinéad O’Connor, all of whom died in 2023.

Entitled 'Iconic Irish Voices', the four-stamp set marks their passing and their contributions to Irish life and music.

The stamp set includes two 'N' National rate stamps showing striking portrait photographs of Séamus Begley and Christy Dignam, together with images of Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O’Connor on two ‘W’ stamps for posting worldwide.

The stamps are available from Thursday, September 12, online at anpost.com/IrishVoices and in selected Post Offices – including Nenagh Post Office, where Shane MacGowan spent many summers with his extended family.

Each stamp is available in a sheet of four, costing €5.60 for national, and €8.80 for international, as well as on a limited edition First Day Cover envelope, costing €8.70, and featuring an emotive image of a lone microphone stand cast in the spotlight.

The simple, unadorned black and white portrait stamps were designed by Shaughn McGrath of Shaughn McGrath Creative and highlight the artists’ humanity, strength and vulnerability.

Each image highlight both the artist’s eyes, looking boldly back at us, and their hands, which they used to inscribe and perform.

Speaking at a private stamp unveiling for the featured artists’ families, David McRedmond, CEO of An Post said: "It's still hard to accept that Christy, Seamus, Sinead and Shane are no longer with us. Each of them shone brightly and bravely throughout their lives, bringing good times, inspiration and joy to millions upon millions of people. They were proud Irish artists whose work explored, often critically, our identity as a people. We are greatly honoured on behalf of the people of Ireland to release these special stamps as symbol of the nation’s respect and pride in their musical genius and their impact on the world."

Victoria Mary Clarke, wife of Shane MacGowan said: "Shane would be exceptionally proud and delighted to be honoured with a stamp from An Post. He was a passionate Irish man with a huge love for Ireland and its history and culture and he was very interested in the stamps and often spoke about how much he loved them. He saw the Irish postage stamps as symbolic of our freedom from Britain and our status as an independent republic, the fact that we could issue our own stamps without the head of the British monarch was very important to him. His family are all very grateful to An Post for this beautiful gesture."

Séamus Begley’s family commented: "This stamp is a wonderful recognition of the impact that Séamus had on people and we as a family are very proud and very grateful to An Post for this honour."

Kiera Dignam, daughter of Christy Dignam said: "Our family are deeply touched to have my Dad honoured in such a beautiful way by A Post. Knowing his humour, to be on a stamp is definitely something he would giggle about, it’s like he’s Irish Royalty!"

On behalf of the O’Connor family, John Reynolds said it was great honour for Sinead to be included in the stamp set and for the Irish State to remember her in such a dignified way while we all still mourn her loss and the loss of her fellow musical greats.

To celebrate the new stamps and as part of Culture Night 2024 on Friday, September 20, An Post, in collaboration with Music Network Ireland, invites the public to visit the historic GPO for a special instrumental performance of four world-famous songs, celebrating the work of Séamus Begley, Christy Dignam, Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O’Connor.

There will be four 15-minute performances on the evening at 6:30pm, 7pm, 7:30pm and 8pm.

The event is free, no ticket required, wheelchair accessible and is a must-see for music lovers and fans of the featured artists, so greatly admired and missed by so many people in Ireland and across the world.