Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators who contributed and made this occasion very special. I recognise the quality of their presentations and thank them for reciting some of Seamus Heaney's best-known and epic poetry. It made the occasion very special and unique. I thank Marie for being in the audience today. Her presence gave a special sense of poignancy to the occasion and made it very special. There was a feeling of sincerity from all the contributions, which were spontaneous. Also, as the Leader of the House mentioned, they were genuine and heartfelt. No one was posturing or trying to impress. These were genuine expressions of sentiment, admiration and respect for a special person.

It is good to be joined here today by Des Kavanagh and David Hanly but also by Professor Brendan Kennelly. To me and to us in Kerry, Brendan Kennelly is up there with Heaney and Yeats. They were great friends and shared that special talent with words. It is a great tribute to Seamus Heaney that Professor Kennelly would come into the House today to listen to all the tributes made to Seamus Heaney. I thank Brendan sincerely. He was a great fellow Kerry footballer in his time who could also relate so much to the field and the markings in Heaney's great poem to which all of us young people growing up in Kerry could relate. There were several markings on Kerry pitches throughout the length and breadth of Kerry, and indeed the rest of the country.

I tried to write something while listening and being inspired by all Members to sum up in some way what they were saying about Seamus Heaney. I will conclude by saying that in all of his work Seamus embodied the adage that the truly brilliant need no artifice. They are who they are, and he remained who he was - always true to himself. He painted scenes with words lesser wordsmiths would have discarded to the humdrum business of conjunction and preposition. Words were his thing, and none were ordinary. They came to him with height, density and sound, and he gave them soul and life.