Regrets over tweet about Heaney image

COLUM Eastwood said he regrets his tweet in response to the British government using a portrait of Seamus Heaney to promote its Northern Ireland centenary plans.

The Foyle MP said he still believes it was wrong to use the poet’s image, but his post on

Twitter “wasn’t nuanced enough, I didn’t put it into context”.

Mr Eastwood was criticised by unionists over his reaction to the Northern Ireland Office using a portrait of the renowned Co Derry poet in branding for events marking the 2021 centenary.

The SDLP leader tweeted: “Be advised, my passport’s green, No glass of ours was ever raised, To toast the Queen,” which was Heaney’s response to his inclusion in an anthology of British poets.

DUP MP Gavin Robinson described the branding as “wholly inclusive” and said the response of some politicians “demonstrated a lack of generosity”.

The debate also extended to whether the Heaney family had been consulted.

The NIO said permission was received from Queen’s University Belfast, which holds the rights to the portrait.

In an interview with the Mirror, Mr Eastwood said “partition was political” and “to pretend that it wasn’t is wrong”.

He added: “It’s not for me to speak for Seamus Heaney but it would have been a good idea for the NIO to talk to his family.

“I just don’t believe in that kind of cultural appropriation where you adopt very well thought of cultural figures and use them in kind of a branding exercise.”

The SDLP and Sinn Fein also did not accept invitations for the NI Centenary Forum set up last year.

Mr Eastwood said he has

“no confidence” in the British government’s handling of the centenary.

He added his party will engage in debate on the issues but they “won’t celebrate partition”.