David McWilliams has a new book, Renaissance Nation: How the Pope's Children Rewrote the Rules for Ireland.

His interest is in exploring "how quickly the economy recovered from the one of the deepest recessions that any western European country has ever gone through."

"Is there a coincidence between the culture wars, liberalism, tolerance and respect for the individual and this economic renaissance that nobody forecast?"

David believes the reason Ireland has grown so much in the past couple of decades is "a very strong link between offering dignity to the individual and the economy responding."

His own memory of Ireland from his youth is that it was "a sort of 'know your place' society, and that has gradually been replaced by a 'have a go' society."

"That society is an inclusive one that's open to trade and idea."

To catch the full chat press the play button on the image on the top of the screen