Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In joining in the welcome other speakers have expressed to Michael, Susan and Ciaran, it is appropriate to thank the Taoiseach and the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, for giving Deputies an opportunity to pay tribute to Seamus Heaney at this early stage after his untimely death. We all value the opportunity to pay tribute to one of the greatest Irishmen.

In history, Ireland has been renowned as an island of great learning and scholarship. We have always deeply valued learning and the pursuit of the ideals of the mind. We often forget or neglect these values in these most difficult of times, understandably so. Higher thought can seem very far away when concerns are focused on incoming bills, worries about employment or caring for a loved one. Increasingly, the national narrative has focused on the cold, calculated statistics of GDP, GNP, bond yields and unemployment which, in recent times, have provided little comfort for our people.

As a nation, we have faced challenging and testing times before. The foundation of the State was a bloody and vicious battle which stemmed from a national awakening and driving sense of unity and purpose, only to end with a searing civil war which vibrated for decades afterwards. The crisis at the outbreak of the Second World War, colloquially known as the Emergency, resulted in rationing and great hardship, although thankfully we were spared the horrors that engulfed the rest of Europe. The nation also faced a crisis of confidence and conscious when the Troubles erupted in Northern Ireland at the end of the 1960s. This conflict would devastate thousands of families, North and South, east and west, and inflict hurt on hurt, build wound on wound and create a sense of despair which hung over these islands until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. It was difficult in those times to reflect, to learn deeply and to find value in pursuing the higher ideals of the mind. So much hurt created little room for such thought, yet there are those who break through the hurt, embrace the best of humanity and inspire. Today, we pay tribute to a man who lived through those times, broke through the hurt and inspired the world. Through his use of words and his writing and wit, Seamus Heaney became a shining light in a world which had little.

A boy from rural south Derry, Seamus Heaney would begin his most rewarding relationship with writing at St. Columb's College, a Catholic boarding school in the city of Derry, where his journey as an academic, teacher and poet began. His talent shone from a young age and he earned a scholarship to attend St. Columb's College, an opportunity he grabbed with both hands to expand his already burgeoning knowledge and grow his deep love of literature. In 1957, Seamus moved to Belfast where he began his studies of English language and literature at Queen's University. He graduated with first class honours in 1961 and it was during his time in Belfast that he wrote one of his first collections of poetry, Death of a Naturalist, in 1966. This work, consisting of 34 short poems, won the Cholmondeley Award, Gregory Award, Somerset Maugham Award and Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. The many prizes awarded the work were an indication of the success that was to come.

In the same year as Death of a Naturalist was published, Heaney was appointed to a lectureship in Queen's University. It was in this post that he came into contact with Michael Longley and Bernard McLaverty. His works were gaining popularity at home and abroad following publication in the New Statesman. His themes of familial love, heartbreaking loss and sense of renewal and reward appealed to a broad audience of all ages. They reflected the most vivid of emotions in everyday human life, which was one of the most endearing aspects of Heaney's poetry. His mix of literature genius with everyday themes was a testament to a man who never forget where he came from.

One of his most popular and striking poems is Mid-Term Break, which encapsulates the devastating loss of a younger brother while Seamus was away at boarding school. No one can forget the devastating line which, on reading it, leaves a numbing silence hanging in the air: "A four foot box, a foot for every year."

Heaney was always inspired by his surroundings and his Derry childhood was to influence much of his poetry. He was not immune from feeling the bitterly cold wind of discrimination and despair, which were hallmarks of Northern Ireland society in the late 1960s and 1970s.

He was to take part in a number of the first civil march protests following the RUC's vicious attack on citizens' previous attempts to express their democratic right to demand reform of a most crooked system. The loss of human life in the Troubles was present in a number of Heaney's poems such as in North. The bleakness of this period is clear to all in his many works at this time.

His poetry was also to reflect the dramatically changed relations in Northern Ireland after years of violence and turmoil. TheCure at Troyis a verse adaptation by Seamus Heaney which best reflects the more recent history of Northern Ireland when it states:

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed for tidal wave

Of justice can rise up,

And hope and history rhyme.

This phrase, much quoted today, is so often used by those who try to capture the scale of an event, including the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, when addressing the large gathered crowd in Derry some years ago.

Seamus Heaney, like many Irish people, found a home away from home in the United States. He had a great following there where his reputation continually grew. He began a rewarding relationship with Harvard University where he had a visiting professorship in 1979. He held the Boylston chair of rhetoric and oratory there where he taught one semester a year. He was professor of poetry at Oxford from 1989 to 1994. His students there held him in high esteem and affection. He was known as being approachable and affable, feeling at home with the young and not so young alike. His lectures at Oxford were collected as The Redress of Poetryin 1995.

That year, of course, was a seminal year for Seamus Heaney. It was this year that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for what the Nobel committee described as "works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past". Seamus Heaney reflected on the troubled history of Northern Ireland at the ceremony. He showed that he would not be labelled by the Northern conflict as he spoke plainly, condemning both "the atrocious nature of the IRA's campaign of bombings and killings" and "the ruthlessness of the British Army on occasions like Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972". He refused to be used as a pawn in anyone's political games.

The following year he received the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Ministry of culture. His other accolades over the years included the T.S. Eliot, Forward and David Cohen prizes, and twice the Whitbread prize. In 2004, Queen's University opened its Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry.

As a nation, we were proud of his achievements and as a poet, I believe it is fair to say he was proud of us, the Irish people. He never allowed any ambiguity develop over his nationality. This fact was encapsulated by his reply to being included in a book of great British poets. Despite sitting down to dinner with Queen Elizabeth when she visited this country some time ago, he wrote:

Don't be surprised if I demur, for, be advised

My passport's green.

No glass of ours was ever raised

To toast the Queen.

Heaney was our national poet. He understood our people, our nation and our way of life, and he reflected these to the world. He was also one of the world's best-known poets, and his passing was felt not just in Ireland but across the globe. This man was a shining light. He was one of our greatest of ambassadors, our keeper of language, our saoi. Despite all this, he remained one of us, one of the people. His inspirational works will continue to inspire for many generations to come.

John Hume, another accomplished Derry man, may have said it best when, in his praise of Heaney, he said:

His poetry expressed a special love of people, place and diversity of life. That profound regard for humanity has made his poetry a special channel for repudiating violence, injustice and prejudice, and urging us all to the better side of our human nature.

To his beloved wife, Marie, to Christopher, Michael and Catherine Ann, and his grandchildren, I say that their loss is our nation's loss. We pass our deepest sympathies to them on losing a husband, father and friend.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

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