I remember being on Atonement and it felt very right to be there. There was so much excitement every day. I remember very vividly how it felt to be a child on a film set, and that is actually really important to hold on to for as long as you continue to make films.

I'm very much for strengthening our industry at home. It's great now there's a lot of work happening but I think with Irish film in particular, the views were starting to get a little stereotypical and we were pigeonholing ourselves a little bit. We needed to get out of that.

My name means freedom in Irish.

There are a lot of people who say, 'Yeah yeah, I'm a feminist,' and they're not, actually. I wouldn't want to throw that word around, because it's a very strong thing.

When I was younger, I would mess about and have a laugh with everyone. I was doing Atonement when I was about 12, and as we went to do this very serious scene, the director Joe [Wright] came up to me ... I'd been giggling right up to the beginning of the take. And he came up to me and said, "Okay, you need to be serious now." I completely idolized him.

I like films where there's a relationship between two women. I always think that's lovely to watch on the screen.

The majority of teenagers don't even make eye contact with people, even people of the same age.