Byline: writes Eithne Shortall

Eleanor Tiernan was a very good child.

So much so that "goodness" was her defining characteristic. She was a worrier and felt a great deal of responsibility. It is, she ventures, linked to being an eldest girl. As she got older, self-doubt lingered and she was hard on herself. This anxiety led the comedian to start cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) several years ago. After a while, she came to realise that it wasn't all her fault. This mantra, employed with glib reference to that famous Good Will Hunting scene, was what she had an audience shout at her during a televised performance last St Patrick's Day.

Similar to a technique her therapist had used, Tiernan asked the spectators to imagine that there was a seven-year-old Ireland in the room. As Tiernan listed out all the bad things that would happen to it, the audience bellowed the same response.

"That we have to eat every scrap of food on our plates because we're only six generations away from a famine."

"It's not your fault!" "The English swiping the Six Counties off us." "It's not your fault!" "Roy Keane leaving the Irish team in Saipan." "It's not your fault!" For her latest show Tiernan is revisiting this idea. She has set up the National Therapy Project, a "citizen improvement scheme being conducted by the National Identity Management Agency (NIMA)". Faux-government leaflets have been distributed, explaining what the National Therapy Project is, why we need it, and informing citizens that "attendance is compulsory on a voluntary basis". There are three images within the flyer: a blighted potato, Margaret Thatcher and Roy Keane. "He's like our Cu Chulainn," says Tiernan, observing the image thoughtfully. It's funny, but it's no joke. Tiernan has stopped the Tiger Dublin Fringe from advertising the National Therapy Project as "comedy" this is a social experiment. "Sometimes when people book comedy, they think it's a trivial thing. I don't think this is trivial," she says. "I want people to have that doubt and think, 'Is...