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Anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can't be too optimistic.

It's a complicated relationship with the place one grows up in, particularly if it's Northern Ireland.

Ever since I left Northern Ireland, I've always been pretty comfortable on my own, which contradicts a lot of people's perceptions of me.

At home in Ireland, there's a habit of avoidance, an ironical attitude towards the authority figure.

It's strange coming back to Northern Ireland, but it feels like a home away from home.

There's a real mischievousness about Irishmen, don't you find?

The people of Northern Ireland have sorted out my whole life.

I have encountered on this long road an enthusiasm for an Irishness which will be built on recognising again those sources from which spring the best of our reason and curiosity.

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.

In Northern Ireland, I truly, effortlessly, knew who I was. I knew where I belonged. I felt completely and utterly secure.