Anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can't be too optimistic.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It's a complicated relationship with the place one grows up in, particularly if it's Northern Ireland.
I was born in Northern Ireland in 1951. I lived most of my life there until 1986 or 1987.
A person from Northern Ireland is naturally cautious.
The reality of life in Northern Ireland is that if you were Protestant, you learned British history, and if you were Catholic, you learned Irish history in school.
Ireland has made its choice for the future and it has chosen the version of Irishness it will build. I know, and I will work with head and heart to be part of it with all of you in creating that future one in which all of us can be part of and part of us too.
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.
For too long, Ireland has neglected its children.
Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy.
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.
The people of Northern Ireland have sorted out my whole life.