Susan O’Neill: I turned to music in my teenage years to help me 

School was probably the biggest challenge I ever faced in my life. I knew fundamentally from a very young age that it felt wrong, and that it didn’t fit.

Susan O’Neill joins Mick Flannery as his special guest for his biggest Irish headline show to date, at the Iveagh Gardens, Dublin, Thursday, July 7. Photo: Mrs Red Head"

I grew up in Ennis. My parents used to run golf courses. My mam was a chef, and my dad would have managed the bar there. My earliest memories were looking out at vast green. I guess something that always influenced me was that idea of spaciousness.

I’m the oldest of three kids in my family. I was also probably a bit of a weird child. I remember playing with vision. Really enjoying squinting and looking at things and playing with light with my eyes. I remember always finding those things to be far more interesting than what was actually around me in real life.