Miriam O’ Callaghan’s Population Crash

Miriam O’ Callaghan’s much promoted documentary on  “Irelands Population Crash” was an interesting watch for viewers of RTE 1 on a cold Wednesday night. In fact it was in itself a bit of a crash.

It was largely a round up of the usual talking heads to lecture us on their take of why the Irish birth rate has collapsed. Most of these commentators were middle aged people completely removed from the pressures and obstacles which young  people face on the steep path to parenthood in Ireland today.

When young people did feature in the show it was mostly vox pops where they were asked about dating and the possibility of being a parent. It had all the cringeworthyness of being asked by your grandparent if you had a date for the school prom.

Of course like all RTE productions we were lectured on the medical and statistical issues associated with having children at an older age and the importance of getting medically checked up regularly to update ourselves on the state of our faltering sperm  count and declining eggs. It seemed like RTE was telling us that it was all kind of our own fault really and it was sad but it is essentially just the way it is.

There was a nod to the housing crisis and cost of child care but this was almost dismissed as just the cruelties of modern life. Miriam took a breather from the whole thing in the latter part of the show and headed to South Korea where she asked the question of a young woman there what happens if no one has children to which she got the response that we will disappear. In the end it all seemed like a lot of being explained to, lectured at and an almost complete absence of solutions. It seemed to be pointing to an almost nihilistic conclusion. 

When David Quinn made a brief comment about  religious faith  the show almost gleefully leapt in to a segment about traditional or trad wives. However it seemed disingenuous to Quinn that his mention of religion was reduced to this limited interpretation.

Of course the elephant in the room was the level of abortions in Ireland each year. In 2025 there were 10,600 abortions. There was no mention of this or the recent removal by the Dáil of the three day waiting period for women to consider whether to proceed or not with their abortion. It is estimated by the HSE that while the three day waiting or reflection period was in operation 10,700 mothers decided not to proceed with their abortion.

The thousands of young Irish who have chosen to leave Ireland for Australia, Dubai and else where to escape the housing crisis and rising cost of living wasn’t deemed worthy of a mention either.

It was also interesting that there was no mention  of the Department of Children and their role and their policies in relation to children.

David Quinn said it best when he said that there was no plan. Indeed Miriam’s show might have been more suitably entitled – Population Crash – No Plan.