Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I, too, am grateful to have an opportunity to pay tribute to Seamus Heaney, a renowned poet and Nobel laureate. I express sympathy to Seamus Heaney's wife, Marie, children, Mick, Christopher and Catherine Ann, and grandchildren.

Seamus Heaney will be remembered as a man of peace. His startling depictions in his poetry of the Troubles in Northern Ireland acted as a catalyst for reconciliation between North and South. Not only was he an inspiration to many through his poetry, he also showed an extraordinary commitment to human rights and the fight for a better world. His deep love of his land and its people will live on through this generation and future generations, as will his work and legacy.

While I was not as fortunate as other speakers to have met Seamus Heaney, I have met two of his children, Mick and Christopher. They share their father's personality, wit and love of language. It is lovely to know that through this sadness, Marie will take comfort from the fact that Seamus's amazing personality and love of family will live on through his children and grandchildren.

As a former teacher of English, I had the pleasure of introducing students to Seamus Heaney's poetry. With no disrespect to the other esteemed and renowned poets who are present, I loved teaching his poetry. It will stay with us as it struck a chord with the students I taught.

This was because it gives a vivid depiction of the not-so-ancient history of our country. He has influenced the generations of young people who studied his poetry at school, young people who could relate. It is so important that we are able to relate to the young people and to educate them in order that they may grow up to influence and educate the generations to come.

I will conclude by reading my favourite poem, the poem I used to love and get so much enjoyment from, as did my students. It is a poem about innocence and childhood. Reading back through it this morning brought back all the memories of conciseness and the idea that one can get so much into so few lines but open so many thought-provoking ideas as well:

Mid-Term Break

I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At two o'clock our neighbours drove me home.

In the porch I met my father crying--
He had always taken funerals in his stride--
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble,'
Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis.