Unionists unwilling to unite for Heaney death

Obituaries and eulogies in tribute to the life of the Nobel laureate, the poet Seamus Heaney, were as generous as they were deserving.

Heaney’s sad death made headlines worldwide, and these mirrored the esteem and respect with which Mr Heaney was held at home.

But descriptions of Heaney as a person of compassion and warmth, whose work transcended the tribal divide, were not, it seems, shared by Unionist politicians.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, there were no political party representatives from the Democratic Unionist Party, the Ulster Unionist Party or the Traditional Unionist Voice at the funeral service in Dublin, or at the interment in Bellaghy.

Despite such admiration and recognition of his genius and achievements, which included the Nobel Prize for literature, professorships at Harvard and Oxford universities, and the French honour Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, along with a host of other plaudits, the philistines and curmudgeons of Unionism are still unwilling to cross the tribal and religious divide.

Tom Cooper

Knocklyon

Dublin 16