I was thinking about Sinéad O’Connor this week as it’s the time of year she died.

My thoughts went back to drinking tea and eating Fig Rolls outside her house in Dalkey and the time I introduced her to Russell Crowe when she passed us by outside a pub – they had never met before and got on famously.

And there was also the lovely night when I introduced her to my mother just before Sinéad went on stage at Vicar Street where she blew us all away with that vital talent which I was sure would be with us for decades to come.

The news she had died landed with morbid brutality and I still miss her droll humour and laconic understanding of a troubled word.

Truthfully, I find it hard to listen to her music as I miss her more than I thought I would. We weren’t best friends by any means but we got on incredibly well and I loved the many times we spent hanging out.

That sense of being hit hard landed once again on Wednesday morning when I arrived at the Q102 office only to be told that there was a story breaking about a fatal motorbike crash in Dublin’s Strawberry Beds involving a man in his fifties.

The word reaching us was that the man might be Glen Hansard. I was in total shock and needed to gather my thoughts because this was such horrible and cruel news.

I had known Glen in round about ways for 30 years. My friends encouraged me to go to see his band, The Frames in Dún Laoghaire’s Purty Loft in the early nineties and it was clear from the get go that this was a band with a front man like few others.

From that moment on I followed his rise – from playing Outspan in The Commitments to releasing world-class albums with his band and then on to the film Once, the Oscar that followed and the stage play that conquered the world.

By this time, our paths were constantly criss-crossing on television and radio as he came on to promote an album, discuss a cause or lead a tribute.

He was unfailingly polite and utterly professional on every occasion.

I was always impressed by Glen’s commitment to social justice causes and his advocacy for homeless charities.

His Christmas Eve busk became an important and sadly necessary staple of the music calendar every year, and only last December he took it to London as the event spread its generous wings.

At the most personal level, I recall talking to Glen on The Late Late Show a few short years ago when he talked about his excitement at being a father for the first time.

I reflect on that interview with great sadness now as I think of Glen’s partner and young son who have to deal with this dreadful tragedy.

Glen led a full and fruitful life and he has left us a legacy brimming with poetry, songs and stories.

I’m thinking of his many fans and his close friends who are still in shock at the loss of another critical and talented voice who has left us way too early. My condolences to Glen’s family and friends – may he rest in peace.