Seamus Heaney controversially claimed for Dungiven

The late, great poet was mentioned at the Stormont Assembly.

But eyes will have been raised in Bellaghy and Castledawson and indeed Dungiven when Pam Cameron MLA claimed the Nobel Prize winner for this side of the Glenshane mountain.

Speaking in praise of the arts, Ms. Cameron said: "We in Northern Ireland have such a rich heritage in the arts, music and various other forms of performance.

"Ruby Murray from Belfast's Donegall Road, Dungiven's Seamus Heaney and Bangor's Gary Lightbody are only but a few names, but what a legacy we have for world-class literature, music, dramatic performance and all other forms of artistic expression."

The intervention is likely to have created a diplomatic incident in Co. Derry.