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

I wasn't even aware of the Year of the Family. I couldn't give a toss. These things - the year of the family, the year of the three-legged dog. I think it's all trash.

I've been asked why does Ireland produce so many great musicians, and the answer is it doesn't. When you count the great musicians Ireland has given the world in the last 20 years, you can do it on one hand.

My parents were sixty years married.

When I was growing up, the exam system didn't allow you to write fiction, so you never did.

I see people in terms of dialogue and I believe that people are their talk.

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.