Opinion

Remarkable admission over Seamus Heaney image

When Boris Johnson first announced the creation of a Northern Ireland centenary forum, he said he believed the anniversary was `something obviously to celebrate' but accepted that not everyone would agree.

The defensive tone of his remarks indicated that he was heading into deeply sensitive territory and there was a prospect that the initiative might eventually go badly wrong.

However, even Mr Johnson, with his long standing gift for gaffes, might not have expected how quickly the release of the first details about the £3m project last week would rebound on the organisers.

It was somehow decided that a portrait of Seamus Heaney should be centrally featured, without acknowledging that the Nobel laurate, who died in 2013, humorously but firmly cherished his `green passport.’

When this newspaper was the first to ask who had authorised the use of the image, a confused series of statements eventually led to a remarkable admission that no permission had been obtained from the late Co Derry poet’s family.

Mr Heaney's legacy will endure but his thoughts on an episode which in many ways sums up all the contradictions at the heart of 100 years of partition would have been memorable.