In Search of the Pope's Children
| In Search of the Pope's Children | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Republic of Ireland |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Radio Telefís Éireann |
| Original release | 6 November – 20 November 2006 |
| External links | |
| Website | www |
In Search of the Pope's Children is an Irish television programme based on the book The Pope's Children, aired by the state broadcaster RTÉ and British broadcaster BBC Four. The programme is a three-part true lives documentary, presented by economist David McWilliams. The show comments on the Irish economy and the social attitudes surrounding it. The show is marketed as being sharp, witty and argumentative.
McWilliams is credited with being the first economist to predict the 1990s boom in Ireland's economy and he is arguably most famous for his predictions of an Irish property price collapse between 1997 and 2002.
McWilliams claims that the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979 coincided with a baby boom which peaked nine months after the visit. These children were born early in 1980, coinciding with the biggest growth of the Irish population since before The Great Famine, 135 years before. He calls these people "the Pope's Children".
In the first episode McWilliams "catches up" with the Pope's Children to see how their lives are going, finding out how much they earn, what their spending habits are, as well as how long they work and spend commuting.
The second episode of the series focuses on the property market in Ireland. McWilliams looks at apartments in Dublin city centre selling for over €1 million, talks to people who live in County Meath – part of Dublin's vast commuter belt – and also to those who have bought derelict cottages in the west of Ireland.
McWilliams also follows a group of Irish people to Bulgaria where many of them are buying soon-to-be-built apartments. He meets a Scottish man living in Bulgaria who is very concerned that rental incomes from the properties will be much lower than the buyers expect.
...
Wikipedia