Residents of Dublin’s north inner city have begun a big clean-up of the area to present it at its best for the ‘homecoming’ of the late Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.
A funeral for Gately, who died suddenly at the weekend while on holiday in Spain, is expected to be held in his old neighbourhood at noon on Saturday.
Chairman of North Wall residents’ association, Gerry Fay, said local people were rallying around Gately’s family and wanted to ensure the area was seen in its best light for the funeral.
He had been “inundated with offers of help” from people who wanted to get involved. “The local women are getting together to give the inside of the church a massive clean up over the next couple of days,” Mr Fay said.
Local councillor and chairman of the North Wall community training centre, Nial Ring, said it was a typical response from the people of the inner city.
“We do our best for one of our own. Margaret and Martin (Stephen’s parents) are long-time residents of the North Wall and everyone knows the family.
“Also, Stephen’s success has been a source of great pride and has been inspirational to the young people of the area.”
Young school leavers from the local training centre, along with local women and the residents’ association have banded together to do a major clean-up of the area and St Laurence O’Toole’s church in particular.
“The trainees in the centre have offered their services to paint the outside of the church and clean up the grounds. One of the courses being currently run in the training centre is painting and decorating and the participants want to use their skills to paint the outside of the church,” Mr Ring said.
Mr Fay said Dublin City Council and the Garda were also linking up “to ensure that everything goes smoothly for Stephen”.
“He deserves this and so does the community.”
Mr Ring added: “The eyes of the world will be on the North Wall and for everyone’s sake, especially Stephen’s family and friends; the community is rallying around to make sure everything is perfect for Saturday.”
The rest of the band - Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch – are expected to fly to Majorca on Friday to bring his body home.
The Gately family will hold a private family Mass on Friday night followed by a funeral service at St Lawrence O’Toole church.
“The 'Boyz' plan to return to Majorca on Friday to bring their brother back home to Dublin,” the band said in a statement.
Gately’s body was released by Spanish authorities yesterday after a post-mortem found the 33-year-old died from natural causes. Following intense media speculation surrounding Gately's death, Gerald Kean, solicitor for the Gately family said: "Continued speculation and misreporting surrounding the circumstances of Stephen's death are adding undue pressure and stress to what is already an unbearable situation for Andrew [Cowles, Gately's partner] and the Gately family."
"Stephen and Andrew's friend, Georgi Petrov Dochev, was staying with them at the time of the tragedy in the spare bedroom of their apartment in Port Andtrax."