Oscar-winning Irish musician Glen Hansard has died in a motorcycle crash in the early hours of Wednesday morning, sources have said.
The Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter was killed in the single-vehicle crash near Strawberry Beds.
Gardi and emergency services were called to R109 Lower Road, between Tinkers Hill and Rugged Lane, at 4.30am.
He was the frontman for the Irish band The Frames, featured in the Irish film The Commitments, and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly” in 2007, which he co-wrote with Markéta Irglová for the movie Once.
The family of the singer are “deeply shocked and heartbroken” by his death, his management told Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ.
For years he led the Christmas Eve charity busk outside The Gaeity Theatre in Dublin city, where members of the public gathered to see famous Irish musicians perform in aid of the Dublin Simon Community.
He also took part in protests against Ireland’s housing crisis, a march to mark three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the anti-austerity water charge protests in 2014.
Irish police said a man in his 50s died in single vehicle motorcycle crash in Lucan on the outskirts of the Irish capital before 4.30am on Wednesday.
Gardi were called to R109 Lower Road at 4:30am this morning
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The man, who they did not name, was treated at the scene but was pronounced dead a short time later.
At the funeral of The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan in 2023, Hansard performed Fairytale Of New York with Irish singer Lisa O’Neill, which prompted dancing in the aisles of the Co Tipperary church.
He is the father of a three-year-old boy, Christy.
The Frames became known as one of Ireland’s most compelling live bands.
Glen Hansard won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly” in 2007
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He was married to Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, with their son, Christy, being born in October 2022.
The couple split their time between Ireland and Finland.