My wife first visited Ireland in 1967 -- her relatives (across Dingle Bay from the town, no less!) had electricity in the barn but not in the house.

When we again visited in 1978, there was electricity in the house. By 1979, they had an addition to the front -- "Ryan's Daughter" had been filed very nearby (in fact, the woods were on their property) and Da had been the "security man" for the film ("The dog and me would go down and make sure the gate was closed....").

Since then we've visited in 1981, 1983, 1991, 1997, 2000, and 2002. Each time we saw evidence of a greater and greater burgeoning of the economy. Heck, in 2000 I even got to visit the Dingle sewage treatment facility -- something that's not on the usual tourist route.

After the pedophile priests, the Magdelan Houses, and other scandals, anyone who thinks that the RC church still rules Ireland is living way in the past.

Why when I was there in 2002, in February, I was walking around the pull-out at the top of the Conor Pass in two inches of snow (yes, really, and I have photos to prove it) when I saw a cluirican standing shivering. Being a good sort of guy, I offered him my jacket, but he just took another pull from his jug, handed it to me, pulled out a cell phone, and called a taxi. Then he took his jug back before I even got a taste, sat down at his wireless laptop, and continued to surf the Web.