New Ireland

For all of its affectations, New Ireland remains a strangely closeted place. This is a country that, in the space of one generation, has swopped nationalism for globalism, Catholicism for consumerism and conservatism for liberalism. A characteristic underpinning both old and new Ireland is a remarkable tendency towards consensus and groupthink. Today, this is evident in politics and even within the media. Ireland's 2008 catastrophic financial and banking collapse is testimony to this troubling groupthink. New Ireland is an exploration of the social, political and cultural themes of a new 21st century Ireland.

If the leafy suburbs of South Dublin are the economic engine of the New Ireland then surely Dundrum Shopping Centre is its spiritual home. Just as the great medieval cathedrals reflected the mores of their age, so too today's great shopping malls reflect the new religion of their age: consumerism. Just like their light-filled counterparts of another era, these cathedrals of consumerism are designed to inspire and awe. Constructed with glass, steel and concrete, they reach heavenwards promising a better life for all.