Speech by President Connolly at the Official Opening of of No. 11 Parnell Square
11 Parnell Square, Dublin, 7 May 2026
A Chairde Uaisle, a fhilí agus scríbhneoirí, a Chlann Heaney, a Mhéara BÁC Ray McAdam, a Airí James Browne agus Patrick O’Donovan, is cúis áthais dom a bheith i bhur gcomhluadar inniu don ócáid speisialta seo.
Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le Ger Aherne agus le John O’Donnell as ucht an chuiridh agus tréaslú libhse ar fad ó Iontaobhas Oidhreachta na hÉireann agus Éigse Éireann a bhí rannpháirteach sa togra tábhachtach athchóirithe seo agus le heagrú na hócáide inniu.
Tá ómós do shaol cultúrtha agus oidhreachta na tíre, stair an cheantair áitiúil agus aitheantas don cháil domhanda atá bainte amach ag an oiread sin d’ár gcuid scríbhneoirí filíochta agus litríochta le mothú go láidir san athchóiriú seo.
We are here today friends to celebrate something very special – a permanent home for poetry and heritage in Ireland. I believe that the decision to locate Poetry Ireland and the Irish Heritage Trust in this beautiful Georgian building – imbued with centuries of history and located in the centre of Dublin – is very significant, placing as it does, poetry and heritage at the heart of our Republic. The renovation and the repurposing of this space will give new life to a building that has accommodated and facilitated a diversity of tenants.
Having hosted the National Club – a debating and social club which counted Maud Gonne among its members – to serving as headquarters for Dublin County Council, these rooms have no doubt been witness to heated discussions and the sharing of ideas. Building on this history, the new iteration of Number 11 will mark the first time that Ireland has a centre dedicated to poetry, and this is a wonderful gift to all of us.
At the core of this building will be the Seamus Heaney Poetry Library, encompassing the late Laureate’s private poetry library, generously bequeathed by his family to Poetry Ireland.
Ba mhaith liom buíochas ó chroí a ghabháil le Marie, baintreach Seamus, agus lena chlann Chris, Mick agus Catherine as a bhflaithiúlacht agus bailiúchán filíochta Seamus á bhronnadh acu ar Éigse Eireann.
Bhí bua ar leith ag Seamus agus é i mbun pinn agus é ábalta mothúcháin agus tuiscint níos doimhne ar ár dtír, ár gcultúr, ár stair agus ár n-oidhreacht a mhúscailt ionainn.
In preparing for today, I reflected with my team on what poetry means to all of us, what it is about poetry that attracts us.
Poetry, of course, invites us into the world of imagination, a world where language is pared down to its essence. I think Mary O’Malley in Galway said, it has “the power to refresh language and give us back our faith in it”, in a time where we need to reclaim our language. It is an artform that transcends time, boundaries and generations, and indeed, as an artform, it constantly negotiates the interaction between politics and poetry.
This timelessness, and the constant tension – I would say a required tension – that we must always reflect on as Theo Dorgan has said between poetry and politics, was brought home to me in a most personal way lately in relation to a funeral of a former English teacher.
His daughter related how all of his former pupils came up to him and thanked him for teaching poetry in a way that lived with them. In particular, they quoted Oliver Goldsmith, ‘The Deserted Village’ – from 1770, which ties in with the timeline outside – and the passage:
Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheared the labouring swain”.
That brought into acute focus for me the social commentary on immigration way back in 1770, and the depopulation of our rural areas.
Of course, we have the famous quote from Michael Hartnett - “poets with progress make no peace or pact, the act of poetry is a rebel act.”
And indeed Seamus Heaney, who I’m very reluctant to quote because he has been misquoted so often to the pain of his family, but for me he captured what I was trying to deal with in 1995 and he talked about The Redress of Poetry in his Oxford Lectures, making up for the lack of a voice in justice and so on. At the same time, he pointed out “Poetry cannot afford to lose its fundamentally self-delighting inventiveness, its joy in being a process of language as well as a representation of things in the world.”
And then back to politics, and I probably misuse but it has always stuck with me this poem, that was commissioned by Amnesty in ‘The Republic of Conscience’, and it was the only time I ever quoted Seamus Heaney, and that was in his poem he highlighted –
At their inauguration, public leaders
must swear to uphold unwritten law and weep
to atone for their presumption to hold office
and to affirm their faith that all life sprang
from salt in tears which the sky-god wept
after he dreamt his solitude was endless.”
I think that constant tension is very important I would hope, given the history to this building, and the debates that were held there, that it will be a very core part of the debate, and the dialogue and the discourse in relation to that tension between poetry and politics.
Recently I read a book, and it has 50 wonderful poets in it and it’s a really wonderful book – ‘Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World’, and there’s an introduction by the writer to each poet and a Jewish poet spanning the twentieth century caught me - Yehuda Amichai, in ‘The Place Where We Are Right’:
From the place where we are right
flowers will never grow
in the spring.The place where we are right
is hard and trampled
like a yard.”
I think it captures the importance of poetry that forces us into taking different perspectives, forcing us to go on a journey as the poet – whoever the poet is – has so kindly allowed us to do, and I think that’s what you’re celebrating here today in the heart of Dublin city.
Is aoibhinn liom go mbeidh an spás fáilteach seo ar fáil ní amháin mar ionad acmhainne, oideachais do phobail an cheantair ach mar spás cruthaitheach dóibh siúd ar fad atá i mbun ealaíon na filíochta agus na litríochta.
As a public, accessible, creative space, Number 11 will have performance venues as well an Education Space open to all ages to encourage lifelong participation in poetry. The creation of a new cultural space is so welcome, particularly at a time when cultural spaces are under severe pressure or looked upon as a commodity. Moreover, the opening of this centre is particularly significant for Dublin and the north inner city, and further establishes this part of town as Dublin’s de facto literary quarter.
Ba mhaith liom aitheantas faoi leith a thabhairt do Tristan Rosenstock, ball de Bhord Éigse Éireann, agus dá athair, Gabriel Rosenstock a cailleadh le déanaí.
Bhí Gabriel mar Chathaoirleach Éigse Éireann tráth agus ina mholtóir ar Chomórtas Duais Bashō Haiku a thug deis do dhaltaí meánscoile haiku a chumadh i nGaeilge nó i mBéarla. Tá oidhreacht saibhir agus spreagúil scríbhneoireachta fágtha ag d’athair dúinn ar fad, Tristan.
I would like to conclude by congratulating everyone involved with this important conservation project – all those in Poetry Ireland and the Irish Heritage Trust, the building and the design team including architect Valerie Mulvin of McCullough Mulvin Architects, as well as those in Fingal County Council and Dublin City Council who have helped to make this a reality.
I wish everyone involved in Poetry Ireland and the Irish Heritage Trust my best wishes for the future in your beautiful new home.
Guím gach rath ar chuile dhuine a bheidh i mbun pinn anseo.
Go maire bhur gcruthaitheacht ag saibhriú ár spiorad agus ár gcroíthe.
Go raibh maith agaibh.