DUBLIN - From Sally Rooney’s bestsellers to actor Paul Mescal, Ireland, which holds a general election on Nov 29, has been enjoying a cultural and creative renaissance in recent years.

In the past few weeks it has been hard to miss Rooney’s fourth novel Intermezzo (2024), the recent Grammy nomination of rockers Fontaines DC or Mescal’s muscles on posters and trailers for Gladiator II, which is in theatres now.

“We’re having a cultural moment and there’s a lot of energy around Irishness at the moment,” said Dr Ruth Barton, professor of film studies at Trinity College Dublin.

The phenomenal global success of the television adaptation of Rooney’s Normal People in 2020, which introduced Mescal to the world, has played a key role.

“I definitely think there’s a new wave of Irish writers, novelists – particularly women – who came up with books on experiences that were not articulated before,” said Dr Christopher Morash, the Seamus Heaney professor of Irish writing at Trinity.

Irish writers, musicians and filmmakers have all been praised for their humour and being down-to-earth.

“The profile, internationally in particular, of Irish artists across all arts forms has actually never been higher,” said Ms Maureen Kennelly, director of the Arts Council of Ireland.

That has led to cross-cultural cooperation, for example, with Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy starring in the 2024 adaptation of Irish author Claire Keegan’s bestseller Small Things Like These (2021) and Fontaines DC providing the soundtrack to Andrea Arnold’s film Bird (2024).

It also starred Dubliner and Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan (The Banshees Of Inisherin, 2022).

Dr Barton said the presence of multinational tech giants such as Meta and Apple in Ireland due to low corporate taxes has helped.

“The country has more money than it used to have... we’re fundamentally a rich country and we have spent a lot of money on culture,” she added.

The Arts Council budget has jumped since 2019, Trinity’s drama academy, The Lir, has become a hotbed of new talent, while the country has even launched a trial minimum income for artists, which the main political parties have promised to continue.

“I think the country has always defined itself through its culture and particularly its...