From Georgian cities to modernist masterpieces, architecture in Ireland has a long history of excellence. The last fifteen years, however,ÊwitnessedÊmore social, economic, and cultural change than any previous period on the island, leaving a dramatic mark on the country's architecture. A new commitment to design quality by developers and a series of government-sponsored competitions to design new civic buildings enabled Ireland to become for the first time a net importer of architectural talent. These architects, from disparate cultures and design backgrounds, filled Ireland's landscape with modern architectural masterworks, from small private homes to large community centers.

In Full Irish author Sarah A. Lappin examines the nature of twenty-first-century Irish architectural identity as it develops its own progressive, contemporary idiom. Illustrated with color photographs and drawings, Full Irish includes more than seventy projects from Ireland's leading firms as well as its up-and-coming designers: Boyd Cody, Alan Jones, de Blacam and Meagher, Bucholz McEvoy, de Paor Architects, FKL Architects, Dominic Stevens, Grafton Architects, Henchion+Reuter, Hackett Hall McKnight, Heneghan.Peng, McCullough Mulvin, Hassett + Ducatez, MacGabhann Architects, O'Donnell + Tuomey, and ODOS Architects.

Born and educated in the United States, Sarah A. Lappin moved to Northern Ireland in 1998, where she continues to practice as an architect. She is a lecturer at the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering at Queens University in Belfast.