In Search of the Pope's Children - Episode 1

Series presented by Irish economist David McWilliams examining the new Irish generation of young and sassy people which experienced unprecedented success until the recent financial downturn hit. Taking a snapshot of Ireland at a time of economic boom, the series challenges the popular view surrounding New Ireland and its perceived ills, uncovers the reality of Ireland's relationship with cheap credit and questions whether it would build on or blow its economic prosperity. The first programme explores the Irish as the hedonists of Europe, explaining how the economic success of Ireland has split the classes into two tribes - the HiCos and the Decklanders. David examines Ireland's path from being the sick man of Europe in the seventies, when Hibernian Ireland was an isolated outpost shielded from any foreign cosmopolitan views, to its recent economic success. Ireland's baby boom peaked nine months to the very day that the Pope kissed the tarmac. These babies, all 620,000 of them, are the Pope's Children.