Gately's funeral to take place on Saturday

THE FUNERAL of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately will take place on Saturday at St Laurence O’Toole Church on Sheriff Street in Dublin.

The Gately family will hold a private family Mass at the church tomorrow night which will be followed by a funeral service at noon on Saturday.

The singer’s remains were yesterday reposing at the municipal cemetery in Calvia, close to Port Andratx where he was found dead in a holiday apartment he shared with his partner Andrew Cowles on Saturday afternoon.

Spanish authorities granted permission to repatriate his remains on Tuesday after a postmortem examination found Gately (33) had died of natural causes. Legal formalities were expected to be completed last night.

Gately’s bandmates – Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch – are expected to fly to Majorca on Friday to bring his body home.

Residents of Gately’s native Sheriff Street area were yesterday preparing for his funeral.

Gerry Fay, chairman of the North Wall residents’ association, said locals were rallying around the Gately family to ensure the area was seen in its best light for the funeral.

“Stephen deserves this and so does the community,” he said.

Mr Fay said local women had offered to assist in the cleaning of St Laurence O’Toole Church, and local councillor Nial Ring said a group of young men participating in a decorating course at the North Wall Community Training Centre would be painting the church ahead of the service.

Local priest Fr Declan Blake said the church had a seating capacity of about 500-600 but that he expected huge numbers to attend on Saturday.