ACTRESS Saoirse Ronan plans to keep her love life under wraps.

The Carlow teenager says that while she doesn't mind dealing with fame, she plans to keep her love life private once she begins dating.

Talented Saoirse is no stranger to the media spotlight thanks to the success of her movies Atonement, Hanna, and The Lovely Bones, but although she admits she likes posing with fans for pictures and speaking to the media, Saoirse says her personal life will always be kept separate to her life as a famous actress.

Speaking to the Herald, the Hollywood star said she will be keeping family issues and personal romances behind closed doors.

"My personal life is private and the thing for me is that people know me for the films that I'm in, more so than who I am. But at the same time, I'm not going to completely put up a barrier. I get that people are interested in who I am and I think it's nice to know who a person is, I can understand it.

"But I certainly wouldn't be giving away my family secrets or anything. The love life seems to be such a fascination for the media now, too. If someone has done enough interesting things then you shouldn't need to know about that. And I don't think it's that interesting, to be honest," she explained.

Meanwhile, Saoirse (17) is currently working on her next movie, a vampire flick called Byzantium, which is currently being filmed in Ireland and directed by Neil Jordan. The talented star says she is happy to be at home for Christmas after a hectic few years travelling around the world.

And the actress says she loves going shopping in Dublin because she doesn't get followed around by paparazzi. "I don't get loads of attention. People will recognise me but they will just be like, 'ah yeah'."

hnews@herald.ie