It's a big con job. We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump most of the time.

She's a pot-of-tea-before-I-say-boo-to-you woman. There's always a pile of warm teabags in the sink when I come down, like what a horse would leave behind.

No matter how close to personal experience a story might be, inevitably you are going to get to a part that isn't yours and, actually, whether it happened or not becomes irrelevant. It is all about choosing the right words.

You know people are always putting Ulysses in the top 10 books ever written but I doubt that any of those people were really moved by it.

If you are a writer you're at home, which means you're out of touch. You have to make excuses to get out there and look at how the world is changing.

The best way to reveal a character is to get them to open their mouths.

I'm going to sound like an old man but at my age, it's lovely doing something that you've never done before.