Aine picked as panelist in BBC political show

Aine picked as panelist in BBC political show

8 April 2015

A HIGH flying politics student has beaten hundreds of other young hopefuls to be selected as a BBC panelist  in the run up to next month’s general election.

Aine McKibbin, from Newcastle, is one of just 10 young people from Northern Ireland chosen to be included in Generation 2015, which is a UK-wide group of young voters who will take part in local and national BBC programmes in the run up to the election.

Aine, who is an A-level student at St Louis’ Grammar School in Kilkeel, will feature alongside older university students and young graduates who also competed for places on the panel.

She is now looking forward to interviewing politicians and taking part in question time programmes on radio and television.

Aine, who hopes to read law and politics at university, dreams of becoming a political correspondent.

She said she is excited and slightly nervous about her appointment to Generation 15 and hopes it will give her an insight into her future career of choice.

“I applied for the panel in January but heard nothing back until last week,” she said.

“I’m surprised I was picked because I was interviewed in a group of 20 others who were mostly university students. There were a lot of big voices and older students with more experience.

“I am nervous but I am also very excited because I just love politics. Politics is something you cannot really escape from, especially in Northern Ireland.”