In Search of the Pope's Children (2006)
In Search of the Pope's Children is an Irish television programme based on the book The Pope's Children, aired by the state broadcaster RTÉ and British broadcaster BBC Four. The programme is a three-part true lives documentary, presented by economist David McWilliams. The show comments on the Irish economy and the social attitudes surrounding it. The show is marketed as being sharp, witty and argumentative. McWilliams is credited with being the first economist to predict the 1990s boom in Ireland's economy and he is arguably most famous for his predictions of an Irish property price collapse between 1997 and 2002.
Seasons & Episode
The first programme in the series explores our current state as the hedonists of Europe. We are boozing, eating, shagging, shopping, spending, playing hard and working even harder. Ireland is richer now than any of us would have thought possible ten years ago. We have more money in our pockets than almost anybody else in Europe this year alone we will spend 75 billion on consumption which equates to about €20,000 for every man, woman and child. David explains how we have been pushed together and lifted up in a sort of ‘Wonderbra economics’ effect, which has allowed us to display our rather impressive material cleavage. The economic success of Ireland as split the classes into two tribes. These are the HiCos and the Decklanders.
In this programme David examines our relationship, or national obsession, with property. New Ireland begins and ends with the property explosion. The boom has not just changed Ireland economically, it has changed us as a people and turned us into a nation of property speculators. Property is the new pornography.
In this programme David takes us back to learn some lessons from history. What is stable today can change dramatically tomorrow, David poses the questions about a ‘plan B’ for Ireland going forward - how are we going to deal with china? With immigration? And with increasing monthly mortgage repayments?