Tributes have been paid to renowned traditional Irish musician Eithne Vallely who has died following a road crash in Co Armagh.
The PSNI said Ms Valley, who was 81, died after she was struck by a lorry in the Portadown Road area at around 8.20am yesterday.
Emergency services attended the scene, but Ms Vallely was pronounced dead a short time later.
The scene of yesterday’s crash in Armagh
Sinn Féin MP Dáire Hughes described Ms Vallely as a “giant of Irish cultural life”.
He said her “decades of contribution to music and cultural expression cannot be overstated, evidenced by her countless awards and honours.”
The Newry and Armagh MP said Ms Vallely was “tremendously gifted” and had been collecting and recording traditional music from an early age.
“She passed this passion on to her family and the wider community through the founding of the Armagh Pipers Club with her husband, Brian. Her legacy will live on, through them and the countless others she inspired.”
Mr Hughes offered his condolences to Ms Vallely’s husband and children and all “those who had the pleasure of playing music with her, or learning from her.”
SDLP Armagh Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon said that while Ms Vallely was originally from Co Donegal, “she made Armagh her home, and what an extraordinary contribution she made to the cultural and musical life of our city, this island and far beyond over many decades.”
Offering his condolences to her family, Mr O’Hanlon said: “Eithne was first and foremost a wife and mother to her own family, but she also had a much wider family in the thousands of people who learned to sing, to play and to love traditional music because of her influence.”