'A great and unique talent': President Higgins leads tributes following death of Irish post Paul Durcan

Irish Post

18-05-2025

PRESIDENT Michael D. Higgins has led the tributes to Irish poet Paul Durcan, who has passed away at the age of 80.
Author of more than 20 volumes of poetry, he was known for his sharp, satirical voice as well as his outspoken, comic but often moving work.
"Ireland has lost the poet with the keenest sense of its absurdity and the lost opportunities for love and feeling," said President Higgins.
Durcan was born in Dublin on October 16, 1944 and raised both there and in Co. Mayo.
His earliest poems appeared in the collaborative volume Endsville, which was published in 1967, a year after he had relocated to London.
He returned to Ireland in the 1970s, studying Archaeology and Medieval History at University College Cork, graduating with first class honours.
His first fully-fledged collection, O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor, was published in 1975 and earned him the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award.
Durcan pictured in 1999 (Image: RollingNews.ie)
It was followed by more than 20 further collections, including 1990's Daddy, Daddy, which won that year's Whitbread Book Award for Poetry.
That same year, he collaborated with Van Morrison on his album, Enlightenment, co-writing and performing on the track, In the Days Before Rock 'n' Roll.
"It is with the greatest sorrow that I have heard of the passing of Paul Durcan, one of Ireland's most important poets, and a close friend for over 50 years," said President Higgins.
"Paul Durcan's contribution to the performed poem was of enormous importance to the appreciation of poetry in Ireland.
"That we have audiences in so many generations for Irish poetry owes much to him and those others who brought their work around Ireland and abroad."
He added: "Sabina and I know him as a dear friend. Early in my presidency he visited us in the Áras. His illness was hard for him to bear and Ireland was missing a great and unique talent in poetry.
"His over 20 collections will be a source of great humanity and insight for generations to come." 'Distinctive and authentic voice'
Taoiseach Micheál Martin also praised Durcan, describing him as 'one of Ireland's outstanding poets and literary figures'.
"Capable of both searing honesty and great wit, Paul's works will continue to be celebrated across generations," he added.
"My sympathies go to his wife Nessa, children Sarah, Siabhra and Michael, and his wider family and friends."
Tánaiste Simon Harris meanwhile said Durcan was 'unflinchingly honest, witty and one of Ireland's best poetic voices'.
"In the quiet spaces of ordinary moments, he found inspiration," added Mr Harris.
"His body of work was both accessible and deep and this is shown in his fantastic final selection of 80 of his finest poems, published in celebration of his 80th birthday last year.
Durcan receiving his honorary Doctor in Letters degree from TCD in 2009 (Image: James Horan / RollingNews.ie)
"With his passing, Ireland has lost one of its most distinctive and authentic voices — and his work, which often turned the mundane into the extraordinary, will live on for generations."
Durcan's other notable collections include Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil, The Laughter of Mother, Life Is a Dream, and Praise in Which I Live and Move and Have My Being.
In 2001, he received a Cholmondeley Award, which honours distinguished poets from Britain and Ireland.
From 2004 to 2007, he was the third holder of the Ireland Professor of Poetry position, set up in 1005 to commemorate Seamus Heaney's Nobel Prize.
Durcan was conferred with an honorary Doctor in Letters degree by Trinity College Dublin in 2009 and an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by University College Dublin in 2011.
In 2014, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Irish Book Award.