The hardest part of it was really being away from my family - I have two small children. Last year I took over 20 business trips, so being away from them was hard.
There are, of course, all sorts of other unpleasant regimes outside the walls as well - the military dictators of Latin America and the apartheid regime of South Africa.
The way forward is by building political support for republican and democratic objectives across Ireland and by winning support for these goals internationally.

