World mourns passing of an inspirational folk legend - Liam Clancy

FOLK legend Liam Clancy died yesterday after a long battle with a respiratory illness.

The singer and musician, famously described by Bob Dylan as "the best ballad singer I'd ever heard in my life", was the last surviving member of the famous Clancy Brothers.

Mr Clancy (74) died at about midday, surrounded by his wife Kim and daughters Siobhan and Fiona, at the Bons Secours Hospital, Co Cork. He had been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, or scarring of the lungs, the same disease his brother Bobby died of in 2002.