BE THE YOUNGEST OF 10

she was always my favourite: if I had any trouble I always went to Maisie. In those days, you couldn’t talk to your mother or grandmother about anything personal, so you went to your brothers and sisters instead. The older ones definitely looked after me. I wouldn’t say I was spoilt, but I was well cared for and I was everyone’s favourite because I was the youngest.

We lived in a terraced house in Oxmantown Road, Dublin, near the Phoenix Park. It only had three bedrooms – and my mother and father had one for themselves – so my siblings and I shared the other rooms. My granny lived with us as well and slept in the sitting room, but I never felt squashed because that was all I knew. I didn’t feel I missed out on anything – my mother always made sure we were well dressed, well fed and happy. We were only all in the house together for a short time: Maisie got married when I was two and then after that she was living with her husband.

My brother Billy died of peritonitis when he was 26, then my brother Jim died six weeks after Billy. He was only 21. He had gone out in the rain and got soaked and it turned into pneumonia.

My sister Nan died in her sleep when she was 26 but there was no post mortem in those days, so we never knew what had killed her. I’m sure it was heartbreaking for my mother to lose three children so young.

My brother Joe was next to me in age and we were the best of friends. Once I found an old shilling lying on the street and Joe and I spent the day going in