Today saw an outpouring of grief in the Irish coastal town of Bray, where Sinéad O'Connor made her home for 15 years.

The funeral service and burial afterwards were private. But, in the period between, the funeral cortege made its way along the seafront, past O'Connor's home, where a huge crowd of mourners and fans paid tribute to the singer and activist.

Our live page was written by Krystyna Gajda, Ece Goksedef, Sam Hancock, Jacqueline Howard, Thomas Mackintosh, Ross McKee, Andre Rhoden-Paul and Ian Youngs.

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Here's a look back at what happened today as the world paid its final respects to the Irish singer and activist.

• After a private funeral, the cortege passed through the town stopping briefly to allow people to pay their final respects
• The singer owned a home in the seaside town, which is south of Dublin, for 15 years
• Thousands of people walked behind the hearse, some throwing flowers, some with their heads bowed
• The funeral cortege stopped outside the singer's home, where a warm round of applause broke out in tribute
• After the cortege passed through Bray, it moved on to a private burial
• Singer Sir Bob Geldof was among those in the cortege, while reports indicate that U2 stars Bono and the Edge were also present at the funeral
• The service included a prayer by the chief imam at the Islamic Centre of Ireland - in respect of O'Connor's Islamic faith - who said that just as the singer had brought people together through her art, so to had she "orchestrated a symphony of unity during her final journey."
• Irish President Michael D Higgins said: "The outpouring of grief and appreciation of the life and work of Sinéad O'Connor demonstrates the profound impact which she had on the Irish people."

With the cortege long finished and Sinéad O'Connor's family now mourning in private, we'll be bringing this page to an end soon.

Before then, let's take a final look at the scenes from Bray today - an Irish town in north County Wicklow where thousands lined the streets to catch one last glimpse of the renowned singer.

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Ali Gordon
reporting in Bray, County Wicklow

For a group of friends from Drogheda, they “just had to” say their goodbyes in person.

“She was a trailblazer for women, she led the path, she was beyond brave,” one of them told me.

“She used her talent for the betterment of society globally but particularly in Ireland and among women, and we owe her a great debt of gratitude for what she said for all of us,” said another.

Since the 80s, Zoe Hilton, from Drumcondra, in Dublin, has loved Sinead O’Connor’s music.

The other night, she had a little dance around kitchen, in memory of her favourite singer.

“We’ll all miss her, she was great.

“I don’t think she ever knew how good she was and I hope she’s up there looking down, smiling, seeing how many people came out for her.”

Among those remembering Sinéad O'Connor today was Magdalene Laundry survivor Maureen Sullivan, from County Carlow in Ireland.

The singer was placed in one of the former laundries as a child - these were Catholic-run institutions originally set up to incarcerate young girls deemed to be "troubled" or promiscuous.

In the video below, Maureen says O'Connor was a "powerful woman, ahead of her time" who "knew what we suffered, knew what we went through".

Earlier, a woman who said she was two years behind Sinéad O’Connor in the High Park Magdalene Laundry told BBC News NI's Ali Gordon that the musician gave a group of the girls there free VIP tickets to a gig in 1989.

“Life went on and Sinéad ended in a different world – celebrity status and all that – and life went a different way for me,” she says.

“I was still in the system and I struggled with being in the system. Ironically, I moved from care to Bray and I lived here and I’d meet Sinéad, beanie hat on, and she was just a normal person.

“I had many a night up having the session with Sinéad in her house. She meant so much to me."

Let's take a look back now at an interview Sinéad O’Connor did with the BBC, where she spoke about her eventful life.

She said: “I sometimes get upset because you get a whole lot of: "Oh you’re a terrible person this. You’re a terrible person that.

"And I’ll be asking my mates: "Am I a terrible person?"

And they all go: "No you’re just not boring."

Colin Paterson
Entertainment correspondent, reporting from Bray

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Sinéad was a real part of the community here.

People have said how they saw her at open mic nights around the town, and almost everyone I've spoken to this morning has their story of the time they met Sinéad O'Connor and how kind she was to them.

When a VW van blasted out a playlist chosen by the family, the biggest singalong, not surprisingly, was Nothing Compares 2 U. The playlist ended with Mandinka, which prompted dancing and people even clapping along.

There is a real feeling today that this is a town that took Sinéad O'Connor to their hearts in the way that Sinéad O'Connor took Bray and County Wicklow to her heart. That's why thousands were here to pay tribute as the cortege went by.

Have a watch below as huge numbers of fans lined the streets of Bray for the procession along the beach front.

It followed a private funeral service earlier this morning, with fans and mourners given the opportunity to say a final farewell to Sinéad O'Connor.

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Vigils, shrines, flowers and tributes flowed across Ireland in the wake of the star’s death - but, as Irish journalist Una Mullally wrote, her death also cracked open a complex and deep emotional network in the Irish psyche:

"Speaking out against the Catholic Church at a time when few people did sparked outrage and hostility and risked her career, but Ireland is now realising the good she did".

For Mullally, O’Connor was a "lighthouse for those who felt adrift in Irish society" and an encouragement for people to "break free, to live authentic lives".

"O'Connor may not have been someone whom everyone, at the time of her ascent, wanted, but she was certainly who we needed," she writes.

Read more here: How Sinéad O'Connor changed Ireland

As we mentioned earlier, Sir Bob Geldof was pictured as part of the funeral cortege.

It's also understood that Bono and The Edge attended the funeral, based on photos published by tabloid newspapers.

As we've been covering, the funeral procession for Sinéad O'Connor has passed through the Irish seaside town of Bray, where she lived for 15 years.

We've gone through some of the latest images of mourners as they gathered to pay their respects.

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You have been getting in touch with your memories of Sinéad O'Connor.

Steve Hoar told BBC News he "totally fell in love with her and her music" when he first saw the artist on a video jukebox performing Mandinka, one of her earliest songs.

He concludes O'Connor paved the way for female musicians like Bjork, Tori Amos and Lady Gaga.

James remembers the singer was "such a lovely lady" when he met her at a gig in Wolverhampton, West Midlands.

"Astonishing" was how Trevor Foster described O'Connor after seeing her in London in 1995.

He says: "She finished her set with Thank You For Hearing Me and her voice was soaring into the sky. I have never forgotten that performance."

Meanwhile, Robert Kennedy says as a 14-year-old he was confused by singer's "contrasting beauty and confrontational attitude".

He recalls: "But nothing got the crowds going in the local disco more than the DJ blasting out Mandinka. RIP Sinead. You didn't hold back."

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Fellow Irish rock singer Sir Bob Geldof was part of the funeral cortege in Bray, County Wicklow, travelling behind the hearse in a taxi.

Geldof and Sinéad O'Connor were long-time friends, the Boomtown Rats singer said recently while speaking at a gig in Ireland.

He said O'Connor had experienced moments of extreme sadness as recently as “a couple of weeks ago”.

"She was a very good friend of mine.

"We were talking right up to a couple of weeks ago.

"Some of her texts were laden with desperation and despair and some were ecstatically happy. She was like that.”

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Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, the Islamic scholar and Chief Imam at the Islamic Centre of Ireland we mentioned previously, delivered the eulogy at Sinéad O'Connor's funeral.

"Gifted with a voice that moved a generation of young people, she could reduce listeners to tears by her otherworldly resonance," he said.

"One need only listen to her a cappella version of Danny Boy or the traditional Irish tune Molly Malone to know this about her gift. Sinéad's voice carried with it an undertone of hope, of finding one's way home.

"The Irish people have long found solace in song from the sufferings of this lower abode, and Sinéad was no exception, and in sharing that solace, she brought joy to countless people the world over.

"Just as Sinéad O'Connor brought diverse souls together through her art, so have you orchestrated a symphony of unity during her final journey."

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Irish President Michael D Higgins was among the guests attending the private funeral service for Sinéad O'Connor.

"The outpouring of grief and appreciation of the life and work of Sinead O'Connor demonstrates the profound impact which she had on the Irish people," Higgins said in a statement:

“The unique contribution of Sinead involved the experience of a great vulnerability combined with a superb, exceptional level of creativity that she chose to deliver through her voice, her music and her songs."

He added her contribution was "phenomenal" in music terms, but it came from a person extracting "an incredible pain, perhaps one too much to bear".

Ali Gordon
reporting in Bray, County Wicklow

Image source, Reuters

You could have heard a pin drop when Sinéad O’Connor’s funeral cortege first stopped outside her former home.

Then people clapped for more than a minute, many crying, rubbing each other’s backs.

Thousands of people walked behind the hearse, some throwing flowers, some with their heads bowed.

Choruses of her iconic hit Nothing Compares 2 U could be heard all around.

Shortly after the vehicles passed, the applause continued with Strand Road was eight deep in parts.

The busiest area was outside O’Connor’s former home, which overlooks the seafront.

One man told the BBC she could often be seen outside her house, watching the waves from one of her pink chairs.

He says the rumour in Bray is that, in recent days, a pink chair washed up on the beach and that's the one which is now outside her former home.

People have been bobbing along to music played from phones and speakers, singing, crying and embracing each other.

Ian Youngs
Entertainment and Arts Reporter, BBC News

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Bob Marley and the Wailers' Natural Mystic was the song being played loudly from the van at the front of the cortege as it drove through Bray.

It's the opening track on the reggae superstar's landmark 1977 album Exodus, and he was one of Sinéad O'Connor's heroes.

"There's a natural mystic blowin' through the air/If you listen carefully now you will hear," he sings.

She had the colours of the Rastafarian flag painted on the corner of her house in the town, and released an album of reggae covers in 2005.

They included Marley's War, which she also chose to perform in one of the most controversial moments of her career 30 years ago. She sang the anti-racism anthem on US TV's Saturday Night Live in 1992 before ripping up a photo of the Pope.

Crowds broke into warm applause as the hearse in Sinéad O'Connor's funeral cortege paused close to her former home in Bray.

Watch the moment below:

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The funeral cortege has now passed the seafront in Bray, County Wicklow, drawing to a close the public element of the farewell to the singer.

A private burial will now take place.

Stay with us for the latest updates and tributes.