Navigation

A New Ireland: How Europe's Most Conservative Country Became its Most Liberal

Availability: Out of Stock
ISBN: 9781510749290
AuthorO'Dowd, Niall
Pub Date01/03/2020
BindingHardback
Pages264
CountryUSA
Dewey941.7083
Quick overview It’s not your father’s Ireland. Not anymore. A story of modern revolution in Ireland told by the founder of IrishCentral, Irish America Magazine, and the Irish Voice newspaper.
€22.15

In a May 2019 countrywide referendum, Ireland voted overwhelmingly to make abortion legal; three years earlier, it had done the same with same-sex marriage, becoming the only country in the world to pass such a law by universal suffrage. Pope Francis’s visit to the country saw protests and a fraction of the emphatic welcome that Pope John Paul’s had seen forty years earlier. There have been two female heads of state since 1990, the first two in Ireland’s history. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, an openly gay man of Indian heritage, declared that “a quiet revolution had taken place.”

It had. For nearly all of its modern history, Ireland was Europe’s most conservative country. The Catholic Church was its most powerful institution and held power over all facets of Irish life. As recently as thirty years ago, Ireland was fighting bitterly over allowing condoms to be legal, and the best of the crozier remained a social and political death sentence.

But as scandal eroded the Church’s hold on Irish life, a new Ireland has flourished. War in the North has ended, with help of President Bill Clinton and his negotiator, George Mitchell. EU membership and an influx of American multinational corporations for tax benefits have helped Ireland weather economic depression and transform from a land of rural cottiers to Europe’s headquarters for Apple, Facebook, and Google.

With help from prominent Irish and Irish American voices like historian and bestselling author Tim Pat Coogan and the New York Times’s Maureen Dowd, A New Ireland tells the story of a modern revolution against all odds.

*
*
*
Product description

In a May 2019 countrywide referendum, Ireland voted overwhelmingly to make abortion legal; three years earlier, it had done the same with same-sex marriage, becoming the only country in the world to pass such a law by universal suffrage. Pope Francis’s visit to the country saw protests and a fraction of the emphatic welcome that Pope John Paul’s had seen forty years earlier. There have been two female heads of state since 1990, the first two in Ireland’s history. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, an openly gay man of Indian heritage, declared that “a quiet revolution had taken place.”

It had. For nearly all of its modern history, Ireland was Europe’s most conservative country. The Catholic Church was its most powerful institution and held power over all facets of Irish life. As recently as thirty years ago, Ireland was fighting bitterly over allowing condoms to be legal, and the best of the crozier remained a social and political death sentence.

But as scandal eroded the Church’s hold on Irish life, a new Ireland has flourished. War in the North has ended, with help of President Bill Clinton and his negotiator, George Mitchell. EU membership and an influx of American multinational corporations for tax benefits have helped Ireland weather economic depression and transform from a land of rural cottiers to Europe’s headquarters for Apple, Facebook, and Google.

With help from prominent Irish and Irish American voices like historian and bestselling author Tim Pat Coogan and the New York Times’s Maureen Dowd, A New Ireland tells the story of a modern revolution against all odds.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Road Atlas Ireland

9780749582302
Brand new edition, fully updated. Clear, easy-to-read scale mapping in A4 atlas format. Fast reference map grid and Irish grid references. Detailed road network of the whole of Ireland
€9.19

Palliative Care Support

Duffy, Anita
9781916019942
Palliative Care Support is an essential textbook, for the Level 5 Palliative Care Support module (5N3769), as part of the Healthcare Support, Health Service Skills and Nursing Studies (Pre-Nursing) major awards. It is based on the HSE Palliative Care Competence Framework (Ryan et al, 2014) and uses case studies throughout.
€21.99

The Rock from Which You Were Hewn The Lives and Significance of Holy Irish Men and Women

Kenny, Patrick
9781847309549
This fascinating collection includes contributions from the likes of Sr Consilio, Bishop Denis Nulty and Fr Brian Lawless, while figures such as Catherine McCauley, Mary Aikenhead, Ignatius Rice are profiled, alongside less familiar names who have served the Church so selflessly in more recent decades. This inspiring work takes its name from the oft-quoted passage in Isaiah and is essential reading for anyone interested in learning from the spirituality of Ireland and its people.
€29.99