Family of late Traveller folk legend Dunne appeal for music instrument that was gifted to him by U2

When Stephen ‘The Pecker’ Dunne heard that former Beatle Paul McCartney had been reunited with a stolen guitar after 51 years, he says it inspired him to begin a search for his late father’s banjo taken in a robbery.

His dad, popular Irish Traveller singer, musician and storyteller Pecker Dunne, had famously been gifted the banjo by rock supergroup U2 in the 1980s

But while on holiday in Ardfert, Co Kerry, with his wife and then young son Stephen in 1987, Pecker’s banjo was stolen during a break-in at their caravan while the family were down at a local shop.

Stephen, also a singer who is pictured with his dad and the U2 banjo as a child and who performed in Trailer Park at Electric Picnic, said his family had long since given up hope of being reunited with the banjo, which is of sentimental value to their family as his father died in 2012 at the age of 79.

“Then I read that Paul McCartney had got his stolen bass guitar back in 2024 after more than 50 years, following an appeal and a two-year search, and that was a light bulb moment for me,” he said.

“I realised that now with the power of the internet and social media there is always a chance of finding my father’s banjo.”

Recalling how U2 came to gift Pecker Dunne the unique banjo, which they had specially made for him, Stephen said: “My father had released a couple of albums and was highly regarded by musicians.

“He was a big figure on the scene, a well-known busker. He was also good friends with one of the U2 management and I think they decided to get him into a recording studio with their sound engineers because they saw that he had potential.

“My father spent a month that summer in the studio working on the recordings, but the LP was never made for whatever reason. So he had wasted a month and I think they later had the guitar made for him as a way of saying ‘sorry’.

“Unfortunately he didn’t have it very long before it was robbed and he was very upset over that at the time. Other stuff was taken as well, but the banjo was priceless to him.”

A prominent member of the Irish Traveller community, Pecker lived his life on the road until he became a father and then settled in Killimer, Co Clare.

“My father and mother were on the road when I was born,” Stephen revealed. “They were on a halting site outside Tralee when my mother went into labour.

“I was born in the local hospital as my mother got in just in time before I made my appearance. I was about four when they got a house in Killimer, but every summer we would take off around the country in a caravan.”

Pecker Dunne earned his living busking and was a well-known figure outside major Munster GAA matches and finals in Thurles. “That was always a good pay day,” Stephen says.

He also supported The Dubliners and they recorded one of his famous songs, Sullivan’s John.

“My father was regarded very highly in the Traveller community and he did a lot of work for them as an entertainer,” Stephen says. “I have continued with that and I perform at Traveller events and for Pavee Point.

“I’m the eldest of four and I’m doing pretty much everything he did. I got nicknamed Stephen The Pecker, so that’s what I go by. I love the music just like him.

“My father lived for music and played it literally to the end. He was in a nursing home because he was very sick, but he had his banjo and fiddle with him and when you walked into the ward you’d hear him playing his music for the patients and visitors.”

Pecker Dunne had connections to Wexford town where his son Stephen now lives. “My father’s mother was a circus woman from Wexford and my grandad was The Fiddler Dunne from Galway,” he says.

“We’ve run The Pecker Dunne Music Festival in the town for the last two years and it’s very successful. Alan Corcoran on South East Radio has been a great supporter of the festival on his daily show and it’s a great family event.

“Alan has also put out an appeal for my father’s banjo on his radio show as you never know who would hear it online.  

“It’s a distinctive banjo that U2 got made for him. It’s a five-string banjo head with a special neck because my father didn’t use the fifth string on the five-string banjo. It looked like they got the fretboard specially made for him. If anyone has any information they can contact me on Facebook.”