FOR most clairvoyants the phrase second sight is no more than a marketing tool for what they call their gift.

For Irish psychic Sharon Neill it seems wholly appropriate because she has been blind since birth.

The 37-year-old from Belfast realised she was different to most people when she was five years old and would wake up hearing voices.

"It was very frightening because I couldn't understand it," she said. "It turns out they were teaching me how to communicate but I didn't know it at the time."

Other strange things happened, like when a schoolfriend's brother took an overdose one Friday. Although the friend lived miles away and hadn't contacted her, on Monday she went into school and asked how he was.

Years later while studying for a sociology degree in England, Neill attended a psychic performance to research different religions. Though she was sceptical, at the end of the show the medium asked her how long she had been practising.

"I didn't accept any of it. To me it was absolutely fake. I thought someone was giving her the information or she was using non-verbal communication. What I couldn't understand, though, was that I knew what she was going to say before she said it."

Curiosity prompted further investigation, and she began developing her own gift, practising occasionally.

She regularly attracts audiences of 2,000, and counts Coldplay and Van Morrison among her celebrity clients. Having sold out four weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year, Neill is now embarking on a UK tour of her Second Sight show, and says she makes no preparation before shows.

"I don't need to. I go and do it. I have 100 per cent confidence in the people I work with on the other side. I work with a team of people."

Strangely for a blind person, Neill also "sees" pictures -- in colour.

"It's weird because I have never seen colour but I can describe what someone in the audience is wearing, or hair styles and make-up."

As a one-time sceptic, she welcomes scepticism in others.

"I think it's very healthy because I was sceptical myself and there are times I still am about certain other people who do this. I know people who have had their lives wrecked by people who haven't got a clue what they're talking about."

Unfortunately, on the day I spoke to her nobody was trying to communicate with me, but for the moment Ms Neill's future looks quite rosy.

"I'm in the middle of making a tour diary because I intend to publish a book about my life story."

Sharon Neill will appear at Burnley Mechanics on Thursday at 8pm. Tickets are £12, available from the box office on 01282 664400.