Born and brought up in Ireland . He has spent his adulthood in England.
He is the Director of the Yeats Summer school in Sligo.
He has published several volumes of poetry including
"The Weakness "1991
"Gunpowder" 1996
"Here Nor There "1999
"Outliving" 2003
He is also the author of "Seamus Heaney and the Language of Poetry."
He has won the prestigious Whitbread Award for Poetry.