Uisneach to feature in new BBC Two series

The Hill of Uisneach is among the locations visited in the new series of the BBC Two Northern Ireland programme Croí na Ceiste le Caoimhe that starts this Monday May 9.

In the series, broadcaster and journalist Caoimhe Ní Chathail investigates the growing issues affecting young people today.

Each week, Caoimhe tackles a question central to young peoples’ lives by inviting members of her generation to discuss and share their experiences to get to the heart of the matter. Over four episodes she talks to young people to get their thoughts on a range of major issues in their lives from religion and the environment to sex education and body image.

The new four-part series made for BBC Gaeilge by Waddell Media with support from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, starts on BBC Two Northern Ireland at 10pm on Monday 09 May.

In the first episode, Caoimhe asks how important religion and spirituality is to young people growing up today. Religion in Northern Ireland can have many connotations and links to our sometimes dark history but do young people still find a place for faith in their lives?

Caoimhe meets with young people of different faiths, beliefs and opinions all over the island of Ireland including a County Down student who was brought up as an atheist and a devout Catholic who is proud of her faith.

She delves into ancient Irish religious practices travelling to the sacred Hill of Uisneach in Westmeath to take part in a fire ceremony and attends a dinner party in Belfast to celebrate ‘Diwali’, the Hindu Festival of Light. She visits Sam Ó Fearraigh in Donegal to discuss his recent conversion to Judaism and asks if and how it has changed him. After her journey, will Caoimhe be any more enlightened as to the role religion plays in the lives of her generation?

In episode two, Caoimhe investigates peoples’ experience of Sex Education. Where does their knowledge and understanding come from? Are they learning in school, from parents, from peers or online? Caoimhe visits universities to find out how they are informing their students about sex.

In episode three, Caoimhe asks whether social media is changing how we feel about our bodies. She goes behind the camera with model Shade Fairley from Belfast, meets magazine editor, Megan Roantree and challenges four young women to take a break from social media to test whether the platforms are negatively impacting how they feel about their bodies.

In the final episode of the series, the focus is on the environment and the eco-anxiety in young people, that could stem from worries about climate change and the future of the planet.

All four episodes in the series are available to watch on BBC iPlayer from Monday 9 May.