I’ve never bought into the idea of Dubai as a glittering oasis of fun, freedom and unfettered capitalism. Sure it has the world’s largest shopping mall with its own ski slope and waddle of Gentoo penguins. But sunshine so hot you can’t actually go outside for more than 10 minutes in summer? I’ll take my chances with stage one hypothermia on an Irish beach, thanks. In any case, there are only so many slightly cheaper Tag Heuer watches a person with the standard number of wrists needs.

But it seems plenty of Irish people do lap up the Dubai dream. In the first six months of last year, more than 37,000 Irish people chose to holiday in the world capital of gold-plated taps and glass elevators. About 10,000 Irish expats call the city home.

“Live your story” is one of Dubai’s tourism slogans, but its own story has two sharply contrasting sides. The one the tourists usually see is the diamond-encrusted capitalist fever dream which it is obsessed with projecting to the world. The other is the Gileadean hellscape occupied by the migrant workers from South East Asia who built the city out of desert sand over the last 40 years – lured there with the promise of a big pay packet and low taxes, only to often find those high wages disappear on arrival, along with their freedom and their passport.

Yes, you can “live your story in Dubai” if you’re a tourist or expat who stays on the........

© The Irish Times