The main street of Leixlip in County Kildare looks as if it hasn't changed for decades. There are a handful of pubs, framed with cheerfully painted woodwork and festooned with neatly kept flower boxes. There are a news agent, a few Chinese takeout places, a betting parlor and shops--many with the pebble-dash storefronts so familiar in the Irish countryside--to buy carpet, tiles and other household fixtures. On summer nights, local teenagers sit on benches and stone walls, much as their parents did. While the population of 15,000 makes the town the largest in the county, there is no movie theater, mall or...