A BRONZE bust of Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney has been unveiled in honour of the Co Derry poet in Dublin.
Heaney's widow Marie attended the ceremony with her late husband's brothers Hugh and Dan and friends including poet Paul Durcan.
The bust, commissioned by the Arts Council, was unveiled in Sandymount, the Dublin suburb where the Heaney family lived for many years.
Standing on Sandymount Green, it faces a similar bust of Nobel Laureate W. B. Yeats.
The ceremony also commemorated the 50th anniversary of the publication of Death of a Naturalist, Heaney's first collection.
Heaney, from Bellaghy in Co Derry, died in 2013 at the age of 74.
His family said in a statement: "We are deeply honoured that this bust of Seamus will be on public display in Sandymount, the place where Seamus called home for many happy years".
Dublin mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh said: "I am honoured to offer Seamus Heaney’s memory a resting place in this park and to give my fellow citizens the opportunity to view this work by Carolyn Mulholland".
"It is my wish, and that of Dublin City Council, that both Dubliners and visitors may take their ease and feel at home in the company of the immortal W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney," she said.
