How do you create a future pope?  Start by sprinkling your son's marital bed with holy water and then make sure your grandson is named John Paul.  Such is the modus operandi of Granny Doyle, the "classic Irish matriarch" in Darragh Martin's new book, Future Popes of Ireland, which follows the major social and political changes in Ireland since the visit of Pope John Paul II right up until the Celtic Tiger goes belly up.  Darragh spoke to Kay Sheehy about how he achieved this through the lens of the Doyle family, namely triplets John Paul, Damian and Rosie and their rebellious older sister Peg who are raised by Granny Doyle after the deaths of their parents.  John Paul is the golden boy and as his name suggests, he's the one tipped for papal glory by his granny, but life has other plans.

Initially, things get off to a good start for John Paul.  He manages to perform several minor 'miracles' in his granny's eyes, such as feeding a crowd of 50 with fish fingers and a sliced pan and seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary in a shell – not a bad start for a wannabe pope.  Things veer off-course when John Paul falls prey the temptation of the Celtic Tiger and suddenly the road to the Vatican feels a whole lot longer.

The book charts the major social shifts in Irish society through the family's involvement with various causes and events such as the contraception train, the ‘Shell to Sea’ campaign and Italia '90.  Rosie finds an alternative to Catholicism and capitalism in environmental activism while Damian aspires to be a senator and to come to terms with his homosexuality against the backdrop of Catholic shame.

Darragh explained that the book follows the evolution of Ireland and is about where we're going as a country and how heavily influenced we are by where we've been.

"I would say it's about how Catholicism and the Celtic Tiger capitalism, both sort of have faded and I think it's more about the question of what can replace them and I think each of the characters have different answers to that…  It's about the waning power of Catholicism and Pope Francis' visit is a great contrast in terms of numbers, the attitude, how angry people are now and how open people can be with that anger but I think it's also about… what replaces that especially in terms of a kind of community ethical values and I think sort of some of the characters are thinking about that from different angles."

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