Introduction

Fergus O'Carol: My brother is back home visiting Ireland this week and I've got to admit that I am very jealous. David McWilliams wrote a book called Renaissance Nation, How the Pope's Children rewrote the rules for Ireland. In it he writes, Ireland went through a progressive culture war becoming more tolerant and richer as other countries became less tolerant and less rich. It's really been wild to see and it's wild to imagine that Ireland in terms of topics such as same-sex marriage rights and abortion rights has become a clear international leader.