Singer Liam Ó Maonlaí has paid an emotional tribute to Dolores O'Riordan, saying it is "just impossible to believe that she's gone".

The Hothouse Flowers frontman was a guest on The Marian Finucane Show on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday, where he joined host Brendan O'Connor, The Devlins' Peter Devlin and Le Galaxie's MayKay in remembering the late Cranberries singer, who died earlier this week.

The Cranberries, Ó Maonlaí told listeners, had toured with the Hothouse Flowers when they were starting out. 

"Somebody had played me Linger, and so I'd been made aware of it," Ó Maonlaí recounted. "And then the next thing there they were on tour. And there she was. This incredible, beautiful, freckled, dark, deep-eyed - very deep-eyed - feisty [woman]."

"She wasn't a tall person but she looked you straight in the eye - she looked everybody straight in the eye," Ó Maonlaí said.

The Cranberries in the 1990s

"And she had an affectionate relationship with everybody on that tour, a respectful, affectionate relationship with everybody. Slagging and just fun - she 'got' everybody. That was probably what struck me most, her humanity."

"Do you mind me asking?" inquired presenter O'Connor, "You developed a relationship with her at that time, did you?"

"I fell for her. I fell madly in love with her," replied Ó Maonlaí before breaking down. 

After composing himself, he continued: "This was the woman I wanted to be [with]. But she was wise to know that I mightn't be the man for her! And I think basically she was about to go into a very busy… Her work was really important to her - that was another thing I admired… They were going off to America and she just decided, 'Look, we're just going to leave it at that'."

Ó Maonlaí agreed with O'Connor that at O'Riordan's "core" was "authenticity".

"And love," he added.

"She had a particular type of love that she emanated and we are now savouring that. And thankfully love lives. And just for her family, like… She was loved, and she loved."    

Listen back to the full interview here.

Details of Dolores O'Riordan's funeral were announced on Friday, with a public reposal taking place at St Joseph's Church, O'Connell Avenue, Limerick from 12.30pm-4pm on Sunday, January 21.

Family and close friends will then gather for her removal to St Ailbe's Church, Ballybricken, Limerick on Monday, January 22.

Her funeral will take place on Tuesday, January 23 at 11.30am in the same church, followed by a private family burial.