The Pope's Children - Tapa dura

David McWilliams' brilliant survey of Ireland today is a celebration of success. He takes us to Deckland, that suburban state of mind where you'll find the Kells Angels, those out-of-town commuters who are the cutting edge of the new prosperity. He introduces the HiCos - Hiberno-Cosmopolitans - the elite whose distance from Deckland is measured in their cool sophistication, their ability to feel at home equally on the Boulevard Saint-Michel and on Hill 16. "The Pope's Children" is an antidote to the endless pessimism of the Commentariat, official Ireland's gloomy opinion mongers, forever seeing a glass half empty that is in fact three-quarters full. There is a vast surge of ambition, new money, optimism and hope out there. That's the real story: "The Pope's Children" tells it - and tells it with style.

David McWilliams - economist, lecturer and broadcaster extraordinaire - he is the presenter of 'The Big Bite' on RTE television. He also writes a weekly opinion column in The Sunday Business Post.