John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I believe one of Seamus Heaney's greatest gifts was to make poetic themes accessible and relatable to people who, by and large, were not interested in poetry. Two thirds of poetry collections sold in the UK in the year prior to our national celebration of his 70th birthday were Seamus Heaney's books. Very few poets, contemporary or otherwise, can lay claim to such popularity. Quite fittingly, numerous events organised to mark culture night last Friday paid homage to Seamus Heaney.

Generations of Irish people will have been familiar with Seamus Heaney's poems. His place in Irish culture and not only Irish poetry was incomparable. Following his death, it was noted that he possessed what he himself once prescribed to Yeats, namely, the gift of establishing authority within culture. Seamus Heaney once said, "Ireland is not a country but a manuscript." With this in mind, he always had something to convey about what mattered, be it home, nature, history or moral choice. In a typical articulate speech at the National Museum last March he excellently summed up the frame of mind of the nation during this economic climate when he said, "We are not simply a credit rating or an economy but a history and a culture: a human population rather than a statistical phenomenon." No doubt the great poet was keenly aware of the manner in which the Irish art sector is being institutionally devalued these days. He spoke often about that.

Some years ago, Pat Moylan, chairman of the Arts Council, while reacting to cuts in the arts funding pondered from where the next Seamus Heaney would come if the Government continued to treat the arts as some kind of luxury that can be easily cut in a recession. She warned that this thoughtless hacking at the Arts Council's budget would reduce our chances of future champions of the Irish arts, like Heaney. The arts sector has suffered 30% cuts in State funding in the past five years. Anyone who thinks these cuts have no affect is seriously deluded. This sector has no fat and had none to begin with. Hence, the cuts are going straight to the bone.

To save money, one of the oldest theatres in the country, the Theatre Royal, went dark for several months this year. The internationally recognised Spraoi marked its 21st year with severely pared back budgets. I have personally written letters of recommendation for several gifted artists, actors and poets who have emigrated to seek work in the arts in other countries. There is simply nothing left here for them. Names like Seamus Heaney act like a magnet when it comes to attracting tourists to the country. With cultured tourism worth €2.1 billion annually to the economy, it cannot be cast to one side. This talent needs to be nurtured.

It is wholly fitting that we celebrate the national institution that was Seamus Heaney here today. However, we need to do more than pay lip-service. We need to provide a solid framework in which young emerging artists, about whom Seamus Heaney often spoke, can thrive. Today, as we mark the immense legacy which Seamus Heaney has made to this country, I implore the Government to ponder the question, "From where will the next Nobel Laureate come?" As the final touches are put to the budget I hope the Taoiseach and Cabinet will be able to look back on the cuts made and ask, "Was it worth it?" In the words of Seamus Heaney, "The next move is always the test."

One of the greatest love poems ever written was Valediction, which is about, Marie, the woman Seamus Heaney loved. It is a simple poem which he wrote when Marie went shopping and he missed her from the house. The last few lines of that poem are absolutely immaculate and will go down in history as some of the greatest words ever written in a love poem. It reads:

Pitched from the quiet sound

Of your flower-tender

Voice. Need breaks on my strand;

You've gone, I am at sea.

Until you resume command.

Self is in mutiny.

Brilliant. Thank you.

See this speech in context