A harrassed and dubious childhood under the hand of a well-meaning but barbarous mother's help from County Armagh led me to think of the North of Ireland as prison and the South as a land of escape.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The land of Ireland for the people of Ireland.
I grew up in Derry, of course, and it was - Derry was the worst example of Northern Ireland's discrimination.
I've always been fascinated with Ireland, especially Northern Ireland, having lived in London in the '80s when there was an Irish republican bombing campaign there.
It's a complicated relationship with the place one grows up in, particularly if it's Northern Ireland.
If I had stayed in Belfast, my life there wouldn't have as easy as it was in Scotland. I see the strain on the people who stayed. Always worrying about the safety of their children.
When we went to Belfast we saw some beautiful countryside and coastlines.
The Ireland I now inhabit is one that these Irish contemporaries have helped to imagine.
I grew up in a little village in the west of Ireland.
I was one of the many kids in Northern Ireland who grew up in the countryside and had an idyllic childhood well away from the Troubles.
In Northern Ireland, I truly, effortlessly, knew who I was. I knew where I belonged. I felt completely and utterly secure.