Miriam O’Callaghan swaps Prime Time for South Korea in 'life-affirming' new RTÉ doc

Miriam O’Callaghan is back on our screens with a major new project, but it’s a far cry from the usual political sparring on Prime Time. The veteran broadcaster has launched a two-part RTÉ documentary, 'Ireland’s Population Crash', investigating why the national birth rate has plummeted by a staggering 30 per cent in just one decade.

The first episode sees Miriam jetting off to South Korea—the country with the lowest birth rate on the planet—to get a glimpse of our potential future. According to the Irish Times, she met with members of the '4B' movement, a group of women who have explicitly chosen to opt out of dating, marriage, and child-rearing altogether. Miriam admitted to RSVP Live that she had "no idea" how low Ireland’s birth rate had fallen until she started filming, describing the experience as "life-affirming."

It wasn’t all heavy statistics, though; some of the sights in Seoul left the presenter genuinely rattled. Speaking on The Women’s Podcast, Miriam revealed she saw more buggies being pushed for dogs than for babies and visited elderly residents whose only companions were robots provided by the local council. "I wouldn't want to live in a world like that," she confessed, noting she didn't see a single child during her four-day shoot in the city.

Closer to home, the documentary explores how the housing crisis and childcare costs are forcing young Irish couples to put parenthood on the back burner. Despite being a proud mum to eight children, Miriam insisted she isn't here to lecture anyone. She told Ireland AM that while she used to feel "guilty" about having a large family due to overpopulation fears, she now realizes that "they actually need women like me" to keep the population afloat.