UPDATED: Hundreds of mourners are attending the funeral of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney which is taking place in Dublin.
Seamus Heaney
The 74-year-old poet, playwright and author died suddenly, after a short illness, in Dublin on Friday last.
The Church of the Sacred Heart in Dublin is packed to capacity for the Requiem Mass with hundreds more outside.
Mourners are being led by the late poet’s wife, Maire, daughter Catherine and sons Christopher and Michael.
Also present are Pesident Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore, former President Mary McAleese, Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, U2′s Bono and “The Edge,” and Strabane singer-songwriter Paul Brady.
Addressing those present, chief concelebrant, Monsigner Brendan Devlin, a former student of St Columb’s College in Derry where Seamus Heaney was educated, said the late poet would have been “delighted” his Requiem Mass was being said in a “northern accent.”
Among those who took part in the Readings are the late poet’s brother, Seamus, while family members and friends read the Prayers of the Faithful. Copies of Seamus Heaney’s works were among the Offertory Gifts brought to the altar.
The service is currently being broadcast “live” on a “News Special” on RTE Television.
Following the service Mr Heaney’s remains will be taken to his home village of Bellaghy in Co Derry, arriving at around 5.30pm. He will in interred in private service in the local cemetery. Thousands of people are expected to turn out along the late to pay tribute to the man regarded as one of Ireland’s greatest poets.
Since Friday, tributes to the late poet have been pouring in from across the world, including former US President Bill Clinton.
Mr Clinton, who recited excerpts of Seamus Heaney’s work during his historic visit to Northern Ireland in 1995, described him as a “powerful voice for peace. ”
The former US President, who named his pet dog “Seamus” in honour of the Nobel Prize-winning poet, added Mr Heaney was “our finest poet of the rhythms of ordinary lives.”