THE former home of Sinead O’Connor has new owners, it has emerged.
Estate agents HJ Byrne put villa-style house Montebello on the market for a guide price of €1.295 million last December.
Now locals this week have seen sale agreed on the property where Sinead lived for 15 years.
Neighbour Ken Doyle told The Irish Sun: “A neighbour pointed out the sale agreed sign this morning.
“We’d all love it if a family moved in and the house stayed as is rather than it was turned into apartments.”
At 3,713 square feet, Sinead’s old gaff is over three times the size of the average family home, featuring six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a front forecourt and views of Bray’s seafront.
Plans by a previous owner to transform the mansion into five apartments were blocked by An Bord Pleanala who said it would be out of character with the streetscape and would intrude on views of the protected structures in the vicinity of the site.
In a failed 2024 appeal, consultants for the owners argued that the council’s decision to refuse planning permission was unjustified as the original plans had been modified and reduced in scale in response to concerns raised by council planners.
Having been knocked back, they put the house back on the market for €1.295m last year, well down on the reported €1.7m which Sinead paid to buy the place at the top of the market in 2007.
But she slashed the price to €950,000 when she was selling it in 2021.
It later sold for €1,040,000.
At that time her agents described it as “one of the finest period properties to be brought to the market in Bray in recent times”.
However, the new owners of Montebello should expect the odd visitor or two taking pictures as the house is a pilgrimage site for fans who regularly visit.
Locals still remember Sinead fondly, and last July, on the first anniversary of her death, they dedicated a bench to her outside the Martello Hotel in Bray.
The bench was crafted by artisans from the Vale of Avoca and Bray Men’s Sheds.
HOUSE CALL
Fans had called for the house to be turned into a music foundation in honour of her memory.
Ken said: “Lots of people are saying to me that we could turn the sadness about Sinead’s dying into something positive by turning her house into a music school or a foundation in her honour.
“I think that would be a lovely thing. Sinead was involved in so many good causes.
“Her house could be so many things. She’s a world famous icon and I think visitors will be coming to Bray for many years to come to see where she lived”.
However the home is still in private ownership and the council has no ownership rights.
