The families of the musicians honoured by An Post in the new Iconic Voices series gathered this morning in The EXO building next to the 3Arena for the private launch of the stamps, which make it into post offices nationwide tomorrow.

In his opening address, An Post CEO David McRedmond said: “It’s still hard to accept that Christy, Seamus, Sinéad and Shane are no longer with us. Each of them shone brightly and bravely throughout their lives, bringing good times, inspiration and joy to millions upon millions of people. They were proud Irish artists whose work explored, often critically, our identity as a people.

"We are greatly honoured on behalf of the people of Ireland to release these special stamps as symbol of the nation’s respect and pride in their musical genius and their impact on the world.”

McRedmond explained that all Irish stamps have to be signed off at cabinet level, which means that "these are the people the Republic wants to commemorate."

Séamus Begley’s family commented: “This stamp is a wonderful recognition of the impact that Séamus had on people and we as a family are very proud and very grateful to An Post for this honour.”

Echoing those sentiments, Christy Dignam's daughter Kiera said: “Our family are deeply touched to have my Dad honoured in such a beautiful way by An Post. Knowing his humour, to be on a stamp is definitely something he would giggle about, it’s like he’s Irish Royalty!”

Added Shane MacGowan's wife, Victoria Mary Clarke: "Shane would be exceptionally proud and delighted to be honoured with a stamp from An Post. He was a passionate Irish man with a huge love for Ireland and its history and culture and he was very interested in the stamps and often spoke about how much he loved them. He saw the Irish postage stamps as symbolic of our freedom from Britain and our status as an independent republic, the fact that we could issue our own stamps without the head of the British monarch was very important to him. His family are all very grateful to An Post for this beautiful gesture.

"It's like getting a knighthood," she added, "but better!"

Speaking on behalf of the O’Connor family, John Reynolds said it was "a great honour for Sinéad to be included in the stamp set, and for the Irish State to remember her in such a dignified way, while we all still mourn her loss and the loss of her fellow musical greats."

To celebrate the new stamps, An Post and Music Network Ireland are inviting fans to the GPO on Friday September 20 as part of Culture Night 2024.

"There will be four 15-minute performances 6.30pm, 7pm, 7.30pm and 8pm," we're told."The event is free with no ticket required, wheelchair accessible and is a must-see for music lovers and fans of the featured artists, so greatly admired and missed by so many people in Ireland and across the world."