NOTHING compares to motherhood for Sinead O'Connor who has given birth to her third child.

The singer, who retired from the music business last year, gave birth to a baby boy, at 4.44am yesterday in a Dublin hospital.

The boy, named Shane, weighed a healthy seven pounds one ounce, despite having been born almost two weeks early.

Friends of the overjoyed 36-year-old singer said that, by a happy coincidence, yesterday was also her daughter Roisin's eighth birthday.

The rock star has previously refused to divulge the name of the baby's father.

"As far as the father of the baby is concerned, after the way the media behaved during the early stages of my pregnancy with Roisin, I would never put any man through that," she said.

The performer announced her retirement from music last April, saying she no longer wanted to be regarded as a famous person.

(c) 2004 Belfast Telegraph