Poet Brendan Kennelly is honoured in native Ballylongford

Kerry County Council has honoured poet Brendan Kennelly, who has returned to live in his native ‘Bally’, or Ballylongford, a place “full of stories”, after an absence of more than half a century.

The civic reception in the Shannon estuary village in north Kerry on Saturday was to mark Mr Kennelly’s contribution to literature.

The former Trinity College professor, now 80, said he been away from his beloved ‘Bally’ and Kerry for more than 60 years but the village and county always stayed with him.