And I lie awake, praying for sleep....

Most of my childhood photos are of me lying unconscious in the most unlikely of places, mouth agape, drooling unattractively, writes Louise O’Neill.

Every morning was a trial, my mother pleading, cajoling, and then threatening me in order to get me out of bed in time for school.

This continued well into my teenage years, when my best friend Aine would call to our house to hang out and was invariably greeted by me still in my pyjamas, a scowl on my face: