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A Twitter row over this incredibly vague graph climaxed with a FG TD calling a voter a "moron"

That escalated REALLY quickly.

Updated at 11.26pm

COALITION TDs HAVE been talking up the latest CSO employment figures today.

Released shortly before midday, the Quarterly National Household Survey makes for generally positive reading.

As Joan Burton notes…

I am very pleased to see that unemployment is now at 10.9%, the lowest level since March 2009.

“These numbers reflect the fact that the recovery is becoming established and sustained.  The unemployment rate has now dipped below 11% for the first time since March 2009.”

Statements using similar language have been rolling in from various other Labour and Fine Gael politicians — while some have also been taking to Twitter to tout the figures.

Simplistic

However, one graph put together by Fine Gael has come in for criticism.

The chart below was posted by Deputy Alan Farrell of Dublin North this evening…

Sure, it looks pretty — even if the lack of details means it gives us almost no insight whatsoever into the employment situation in the country…

It started to snowball from there… 

One Twitter user with a head for figures took Farrell to task for his lack of detail… 

 

Elsewhere on Twitter, others were also criticising the graphic… Today FM Political Correspondent Gavan Reilly (formerly of this parish) summed up the problem pretty well with this to-the-point Tweet… 

 

And the Fine Gael press office was pretty quick to come back with an explanation — stressing that the graph was automatically generated by the Central Statistics Office website, before it was transposed into the blue-and-white graphic….

 

Others chimed in, taking issue with the lack of detail…

And as Reilly pointed out… 

 

As the debate progressed, the tone remained pretty genial… 

 

And eventually Reilly went to the trouble of doing up his own graph to illustrate his point… 

 

 

Over at Alan Farrell’s Twitter account, meanwhile — the Fine Gael deputy was taking a slightly less measured approach to criticism…

 

Update: The TD has been back on Twitter since we originally posted this article, shortly after 8pm. Several people had replied to his original offending tweet in the intervening hours, but the deputy chose not to engage with them.

He hasn’t responded to this person either… 

Read: TD who called Sinéad O’Connor ‘mad as a brush’ apologises

Read: The unemployment rate for August has actually been revised down

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148 Comments
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    Mute Rachel O' Meara
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:21 PM

    Bit hypocritical of Alan Farrell calling someone a moron for pointing out the c*ck up that was that chart!

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    Mute David Burke
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:48 PM

    CSO chart.

    I’d generally agree that charts need to be labelled but they don’t always. Sometime you can just have a image saying lowest unemployment in 5 years and a downward trending line for illustration purposes.

    It depends on the use case, if you are having a policy discussion then the chart should be labelled to convey information. If it’s a political poster than I don’t think it matters that much. The emphasis is on the “5 year bit” and not on the specifics of the figures.

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    Mute Cóilín O'Toole
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:55 PM

    @David Burke, I completely agree. A chart doesn’t have to be accurate when it is just being used to manipulate the facts. 10.9% unemployment is not something to be proud of.

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    Mute William Boyd
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:57 PM

    Or maybe the JobBridge scam and the mass emigration are distorting the figures David?.

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    Mute Gerard Murphy
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:33 PM

    …..more a case of trying to get the best graph! https://gfmurphy101.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/how-to-get-the-best-effect/

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    Mute Elias Khoury
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:59 PM

    No David. Publishing such a graph without labelling the axes is tantamount to calling ALL the voters morons, not just the guy that pointed up his sloppiness.

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    Mute David Kelly
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:40 PM

    The unemployment rate quoted is number out of work over the total population, not the working population, this is another manipulation. As a % of the working population unemployment is running @~20%+.

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    Mute Barbara James
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    Nov 27th 2014, 12:30 AM

    + CE Schemes, TUS, Momentum, Back to Work, Back to Education – all are taken off the ‘live’ register!

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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    Nov 27th 2014, 7:38 AM

    David, this is not the fault of the CSO as their graph isn’t too far away from what it should be. The terrible copy-paste job from the Fine Gael propaganda department is to blame.

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    Mute John Hickey
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    Nov 27th 2014, 2:31 PM

    If you were in school you would de asked to explain how you got your figures.

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    Mute Niall H
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:20 PM

    When you force a generation to emigrate and throw the ones who stay into unpaid labour jobs (job bridge) then I’d expect a graph like that. But hey let’s celebrate and criticise anyone who doubts ‘the figures’

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    Mute Charles J. Ahern
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:19 PM

    Label the x-axis and the y-axis straight away … first rule of graphs in primary school education. Deduct three marks immediately

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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:26 PM

    First rule of politics : Don’t get caught calling a voter a moron.Especially when they are right.

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    Mute Charles J. Ahern
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:39 PM

    Ah sure politicians do that all the time, sure a prominent SF candidate told me to “F*ck off” when I challenged him over water policy. Tis all a bitta fun!

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    Mute Lamb
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    Nov 27th 2014, 6:26 AM

    Maybe he thought you were being a smart ar$e

    28
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    Mute Jason Downes
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:22 PM

    Alan Farrell…your p45 awaits in which case adjust your graph slightly

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    Mute Alan Farrell
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:24 PM

    What did I do?

    224
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    Mute Jonathan Kennedy
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:30 PM

    The word, “Moron” springs to mind

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    Mute Alan Farrell
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:01 PM

    Dont over heat your mind

    25
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    Mute Norman Hunter
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:17 PM

    *Don’t*

    152
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    Mute Darragh
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:05 PM

    Why do ya bother correcting someone for the tiniest little error, does it make you feel smart and superior or something??

    71
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    Mute Justn SinisterFringe
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:02 PM

    you*

    142
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    Mute Dermot Ryan
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    Nov 27th 2014, 12:59 AM

    *you …L.O.L.

    47
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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Nov 27th 2014, 1:00 AM

    I’d throw the shovel away if I were you, Alan.

    59
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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Nov 27th 2014, 1:04 AM

    If Alan Farrell is being snide about someone’s comment the least he can do is use predictive text to get his grammar right!

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    Mute Pepper Brooks
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    Nov 27th 2014, 4:40 AM

    Nonsense

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    Mute Alan Farrell
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    Nov 27th 2014, 9:05 AM

    Criticism from a bloke with a triple barrel name, great, I’m so proud

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    Mute Alan Farrell
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    Nov 27th 2014, 9:05 AM

    Mary, get a life!

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    Mute Justn SinisterFringe
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    Nov 27th 2014, 9:26 AM

    i’ll begrudgingly accept your appoligy, will even get in line and have mannors about it. good day to you Sir!

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    Mute Justn SinisterFringe
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    Nov 27th 2014, 9:33 AM

    & whats wrong with a a triple barrel name anyway Alan? used to better, are we? enjoy spending the rest of the day appologising to everyone…

    15
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    Mute Darren Doheny
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:18 PM

    This recovery would have happened in spite of FG. Do they honestly think the jobs bridge done this?

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    Mute johngahan
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:41 PM

    I’d put it down to their mass campaign of attracting inward investment, restoring access to debt markets and getting the economy under control.

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    Mute Darren Doheny
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:47 PM

    The IDA have been doing that for years. This government have been ineffective.

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    Mute David Burke
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:49 PM

    No the government played a very important role. Sentiment is hugely important particularly when investors aren’t always educated on the specifics. Say what you want about Kenny but the man has energy. Remember the Miriam Lord piece taking the piss out of his trip to Japan to meet the PM. The man doesn’t stop.

    58
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    Mute E
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:53 PM

    Can we compare that chart, to the chart which illustrates the mass emigration of our well educated (expensively educated) native population for the same period?

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    Mute E
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:55 PM

    Climaxed eh
    I’d say that’s the best climax Farrell ever witnessed.

    108
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    Mute johngahan
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:56 PM

    Clearly not educated or experienced in the right areas. There is a huge skills shortage, that is what is holding back further inward investment.

    A bit of time overseas never hurt any young Irish person. We don’t know it all here on our little mossy green isle. Plenty to be learned in other foreign cities. They can come back all the better for it, if they choose to do so.

    40
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    Mute Cóilín O'Toole
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:01 PM

    @johngahan. You are so completely out of touch with the pain that families feel when they are torn apart by emigration. Typical FG.

    266
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    Mute thetruth
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:11 PM

    Or fked off the dole after 5 months given no reason why. Offered an internship in something i have an m.a. in. Started my own business and which i got fk all help from this government. I succeeded despite them putting a roadblock at every opportunity. This is another spin exercise. Theres a reason fg never serve succesive governments

    250
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    Mute An Ciarraioch
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:31 PM

    Dr. Goebbels Office in FG & Lab ( the puppy dog ) are working double time on cooking the employment Books !!!!
    What’s really sick peculiar – is that in reducing the Unemployment Stats . they include as being Employed our Sons and Daughters , who have left Ireland for foreign parts !
    What a crowd of Con Artists they are !

    Nearly a Half a Million of our Citizens since 2008 !

    156
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    Mute Graham Kavanagh
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:27 PM

    Turn the same chart upside down and you get emigration graph.

    148
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    Mute E
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:51 PM

    Jeez johngahan.
    You’ve nailed it!
    You’ve just done a great impression of the also-ran FG&Lab there.
    ( just after they lie their way into government,
    and start back tracking on their pre election promises,
    as they begin to lamely try and rationalise their corruption, ineptitude, greed and laziness away, with glib, sneery, loose, antagonistic statements )

    78
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    Mute johngahan
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:52 PM

    There is only one person responsible for making things happen in your life and that’s yourself.

    There seem to be a lot of people who expect the government to serve them up something on a plate, study their Leaving Cert for them, fill out their CAO form, hand them a degree and then give them a job.

    No legitimate successful employee or entrepreneur globally would attribute their success to the right government being in power.

    29
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    Mute Graham Kavanagh
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:55 PM

    Yes, they learn how really rotten Ireland is, corruption, cronyism and basic disregard for regular people. Smart person will not come back to live.

    100
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    Mute thetruth
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:58 PM

    Nail on the head Graham

    62
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    Mute thetruth
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:59 PM

    Yes John. Well read. Can you actually read properly? Or do you twist everything up?

    52
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    Mute thetruth
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:01 PM

    Nail on the head again Graham. This bunch will be the last government that uses cronyism, corruption and under handed tactics. No future government will try it, because now they see twhat the irish people can do

    56
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    Mute Graham Kavanagh
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:12 PM

    Les, I guess those who defend this morally corrupt goverrnment are those who benefit from same corruption.

    63
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    Mute thetruth
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:17 PM

    Spot on. Ive no doubt Gahan is a pseudonym. Reckon he’s related to one of them

    49
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    Mute Mick O'Dwyer
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    Nov 27th 2014, 12:59 AM

    Figures published by the Central Statistics Office show a total of 81,900 people of all nationalities moved out of Ireland in the 12 months to April, down 8 per cent on the 89,000 recorded in 2012/13.

    26
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    Mute Lamb
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    Nov 27th 2014, 6:23 AM

    What have we gained out of his trip to Japan? The Government are trying to make it look like all their p!$$1Ng into the wind has somehow had an effect. People have less money yet they are spending more, despite more emmigration? How is it happening? Net positove immigration, more people in the country means more demand and more money spent, starting up the sluggish economy. The positive performance of export could not be down to the government, it was driven by the companies exporting and some of them managed to take advantage of the recession to keep their cost base down. Also a weakening Euro is good for exports out of the Eurozone

    8
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    Mute Klark Quent
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    Nov 27th 2014, 7:02 AM

    “There is only one person responsible for making things happen in your life and that’s yourself”…….?????? Where did you read that one? I hope you didn’t make it up because it sounds like something comical Ali would say. The government are responsible for the reduction in my wages not me, I have less disposable income (none) because of government levy and charges, its not because of me it’s down to the government having an effect on mine and everyone’s life

    36
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    Mute KeiKe
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    Nov 27th 2014, 8:09 AM

    FG can stick that graph up thier arse

    22
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    Mute E
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    Nov 27th 2014, 10:41 AM

    Don’t worry I know all about that johngahan.
    I have had my own successful business since before I left school and have worked in many parts of the world.
    I’m just highlighting the point that our government is not to be trusted as is full of corrupt, criminal, liars who continually p1ss away our tax euros.

    8
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    Mute E
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    Nov 27th 2014, 11:39 AM

    @ johngahan.
    “No legitimate successful employee or entrepreneur globally would attribute their success to the right government being in power”
    Let’s ask Denis O’Brien and the Galway tent brigade about that one?

    11
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    Mute James Doyle
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:26 PM

    Alan Farrell is a good example to us all of how little many politicians think of the people they are supposed to represent.

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    Mute Noel Cosgrave
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    Nov 27th 2014, 11:05 AM

    May I humbly suggest that anything after the word “think” is superfluous?

    10
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    Mute peter
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:13 PM

    Why isn’t jobs bridge considered being on the dole when the social welfare pay for it? I don’t understand the logic?

    292
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    Mute Daisy Chainsaw
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    Nov 27th 2014, 9:01 AM

    To diddle the figures. If all the people on govt scams – Sorry, schemes – were included in the statistics, the numbers wouldn’t be near as impressive.

    77
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    Mute skin flint
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:20 PM

    Immediately resorts to name calling. Is this our “best and brightest?”

    291
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    Mute Noel Cosgrave
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    Nov 27th 2014, 11:07 AM

    No. Our best and brightest generally don’t make a career out of politics.

    9
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    Mute Orange Order Loyal
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:21 PM

    Let him have his little jibe over twitter. Deputy Farrell will loose his seat soon, along with many of his colleagues.

    291
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    Mute Declan Carr
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:49 PM

    Just a little reminder: Almost 1,000 Irish people left Ireland each week last year to find work abroad — the highest figure since the recession began in 2008.

    According to the latest CSO figures, 50,900 Irish people emigrated in the 12 months to April. Overall, 89,000 people left the country in this period — an increase of 2.2% on the 87,100 in 2012.

    Would this be a big chunk on 10.9% of unemployment

    284
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    Mute Richard Sweeney
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:02 PM

    2011-12 emigration @ 87,000 nett 35,000
    2012-13 emigration @ 89,000 nett 33,000
    2013-14 emigration @ 82,000 nett 21,000

    Jobsbridge at circa 30,000
    Are people who get jobseekers and go back to college included as unemployed?
    Where’s your graph for this Farrell?

    192
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    Mute Tom Red
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:38 PM

    Alan Farrell has some cheek calling anyone a Moron. …
    The term rabbit,hare fluffy hole springs to mind……

    275
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    Mute Eugene Walsh
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:55 PM

    Operation bombardment.
    Kill the public conscience just a wk after the water debacle with Mickley mouse figures, stats and false promises.
    I’ve never seen such roll out of pseudo good news from a government on all the age old achilles heels of this country.
    We haven’t gone away you know! !
    See you in the long grass!

    231
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    Mute Dave cullen
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:17 PM

    Too right Eugene,it’s been all great news from the anti Irish party that is Fine Gael.They cut a piece here,snip some stats there and as if by magic the gullible Irish will believe their crap.
    They work for ze Germans because they’ve no balls or regard for their own people.The above article is another minor example of their ineptness.Arrogant shower of blue shirt gangsters.
    A general election now will give us stability.Im fed up with Fine Gael constantly covering up and back tracking and not doing what we elected them to do.Wait until the Nama scandal comes out,it will make the Irish water robbery look like an episode of Sesame Street!

    153
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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:39 PM

    What ever he might think about the voter he should know better than to put it in writing ffs.Putting it on twitter is akin to publishing an open letter in a national newspaper.

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    Mute David Kenny
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    Nov 27th 2014, 12:13 AM

    Alan just seems to be mad because I called him on nonsense, and that I’m better at graphs than he is. I’ve since started working on some helpful graphs I’m going to send to him and FG- cost of Irish Water against value of Iish water, number of Dáil seats at the next election available to FG against how angry people are at FG…. perhaps I’ll get a job out of it.

    155
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    Mute Coles
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    Nov 27th 2014, 12:39 AM
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    Mute David Boxer
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:31 PM

    Alan posted a comment in the Journal just over an hour ago.

    http://www.thejournal.ie/state-board-appointments-1801611-Nov2014/

    I’m interested in why he thinks that guy was a “Moron” as the guy had a genuine point about the graph.

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    Mute The Irish Bull
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:43 PM

    No graph could show the scandals thrown to one side by this government as they wait it out. I think TD should withdraw comment and then himself.

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    Mute Setrakian
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:15 PM

    The same Alan Farrell that gave his wife a job – nepotistic ar$ehole. He’s not well liked for good reason.

    117
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    Mute eastsmer
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:21 PM

    Parasites, Morons,
    Threats on a weekly basis about taxes.
    Threats to take houses off people over home taxes.
    Threats to cut water supply over water taxes.
    I dont care if Unemployment is 0.00%
    We should not be treated like this.

    109
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    Mute Emmet Daly
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:13 PM

    I wonder what the % figures would show if they excluded people “working” on the jobbridge scheme.

    103
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    Mute poisonivy
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:17 PM

    just waiting to see how the FG office spin this one and for the (inevitable) “my statement was taken out of context” bullshit

    101
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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:52 PM

    Or the ‘death threat’ he will receive. *

    * Enda on the phone threatning to ‘strangle the little b*lloix’.

    117
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    Mute poisonivy
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:06 PM

    Haha between this, the ISIS debacle last week and the “lawless utopia” statements I’m seriously beginning to wonder if this is all an elaborate panto put on by the government to give us all a laugh in the run up to Christmas. You couldn’t write this shit!

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    Mute malcolm mccarthy
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:23 PM

    its all a bit graphic really

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    Mute Robert Power
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:49 PM

    Total employment was 1,844,000 million in Jan 2011. Now 1,926,000. Increase in employment is 4.4% after almost 4 years. This unemployment decrease is mainly through emigration. Hardly something to be proud of.

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    Mute Richard Sweeney
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:13 PM

    An awful lot of those jobs are low paid or temporary. Pharmaceutical, medical device, multinational companies hiring on short term contracts, leaving workers go, then immediately rehiring on the same short term contracts. It’s better than nothing for people desperate for work but our unemployed are being exploited.

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    Mute KarlMarcks
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:12 PM

    Or zero hours contracts.
    You could be ‘employed’ on a zero hours contract for a year, never get called for even one hour, and yet be counted as employed for statistical purposes.

    56
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    Mute Gordon Kennedy
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:46 PM

    Typical FG ‘big house’ arrogance.. Condescending and all knowing.. No wonder they’ve never won a second term in government.

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    Mute ididntneedtoknowthat
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:22 PM

    I thought he was signing his name to his tweet …

    78
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    Mute Peter Slattery
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:11 PM

    Fine Gael. Winning the electorate back, one voter at a time.

    77
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    Mute Niall Kearney
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:04 PM

    This is more disingenuous trollop from FG.. Numbers don’t take into account emigration. Reason for fall is that there are no young people left in the country to label as unemployed.

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    Mute Dermot Ryan
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    Nov 27th 2014, 1:01 AM

    cutting the dole – totally illegally it must be pointed out, for 18 to 25 year olds was the econometrics behind that one Niall …

    27
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    Mute eastsmer
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:22 PM

    Oh yeah,
    Sinister Fringe, ISIS and so on.

    69
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    Mute David Gillen
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:46 PM

    Percentage unemployed is down, but it’s not due to anything the government has done. It’s due to huge number emigrating because they can’t find work.

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    Mute Siobhan Meade
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:59 PM

    He was probably thinking moron in his head about his self but being fine gael could not do two things at once so wrote what he was thinking typical….

    47
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    Mute Stephen Hamilton
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:51 PM

    love the way they are putting the majority on courses and telling europe look were great we have everyone back working, makes no difference if your on dole or courses still the government paying them.

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    Mute Leslie Skinner
    Favourite Leslie Skinner
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:55 PM

    If he voted for FG he is a moron

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    Mute anto
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:20 PM

    How long before Alan says sorry?

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:33 PM

    The country is populated almost exclusively by morons, so what’s the controversy

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    Mute poisonivy
    Favourite poisonivy
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:25 PM

    Is that excluding yourself or…?

    64
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    Mute Barbara James
    Favourite Barbara James
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    Nov 27th 2014, 12:38 AM

    It’s not only those on JobsBridge that are considered to be off the ‘live’ register. Also anyone on Back to Education, TUS, Momentum, Solas (FAS) Course and CE Schemes. This so called drop in unemployment isn’t all it’s made out to be

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    Mute John James
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:38 PM

    And Paul Murphy is a good example of the the people he represents!

    28
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    Mute John James
    Favourite John James
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:16 PM

    Ah, red thumbs! Lefties on duty!

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    Mute Dermot Ryan
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    Nov 27th 2014, 1:02 AM

    mad isn’t – there’s even a few clowns here as well …still, all are welcome !

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    Mute John Kinsella
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:49 PM

    Noonan is the spitting image of Herman Goering and Kenny , with a bit of doctoring could pass as Gobbels, but we have no one of the calibre of Adolf Hitler. When the blue fades from the shirts we’ll be clear of that rag bag mob.

    25
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    Mute 3monkey
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    Nov 26th 2014, 10:04 PM

    I can’t see a problem , but then I am disgraphic :(

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    Mute Enda Loughney
    Favourite Enda Loughney
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    Nov 27th 2014, 1:26 AM

    ADD IN THE ALL THE IMMIGRATION IF THEY ALL ARRIVED BACK IN THE MORNING THAT MEANS JACK SHIT

    18
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    Mute Irish Bob
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    Nov 27th 2014, 2:32 AM

    They just have no answers to the straight questions and have utter contempt for the Irish People

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    Mute John B
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    Nov 27th 2014, 3:14 AM

    Funnily enough this graph is almost the mirror image of the net emigration graph on this page http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1028113.shtml couple this with jobs bridge and then I think you will figure out why labour and fine gael never quote the real figures, the number in employment.

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    Mute Trevor Curley
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    Nov 27th 2014, 4:41 AM

    Alan Farrell is the moron for believing his his own bullshit.

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    Mute Mark McIvor
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    Nov 26th 2014, 8:45 PM

    The graph is a pretty self explanatory to be fair!

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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:01 PM

    It could quite easily be graphing the drop in unemployment vs the number of deaths over the last five years.Its not the graph thats the problem though. Rather than just saying ‘oops , sorry I forgot to label the axis’ he tried to defend his mistake and ended up calling some a ‘moron’ for pointing out HIS error.

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    Mute Cóilín O'Toole
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:04 PM

    How does it explain itself without an x-axis and y-axis?

    Knowledge economy my arse.

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    Mute Derek Poutch
    Favourite Derek Poutch
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:16 PM

    Could somebody,anybody do a comprehensive study of the number of people who have emigrated,who are on job bridge,tus and ce schemes since this govt came to power.If we had this information then the govt wouldnt be able to pull figures out of their arse.

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    Mute Declan Carr
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    Nov 26th 2014, 9:46 PM
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    Mute Gerard Murphy
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    Nov 27th 2014, 10:06 AM
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    Mute Mark McIvor
    Favourite Mark McIvor
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    Nov 27th 2014, 8:26 PM

    The heading and percentage value give the graph enough context to know what it means. Yes it should be labelled, but it’s not worth getting your knickers in a twist about!

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    Mute Joseph O'Regan
    Favourite Joseph O'Regan
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    Nov 27th 2014, 7:16 AM

    It has become obvious what this Government thinks of the ordinary people in this country. They behave like the old Aristocracy of the Dickens era.

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    Mute J. Dunn
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    Nov 26th 2014, 11:39 PM

    Reminds me of the Garda graph published by thejournal a few months back.

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    Mute Patrick
    Favourite Patrick
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    Nov 27th 2014, 8:29 AM

    Could we plot a graph on the x axis – number of politicians vs number of family members and friends in the dail and public service. Now that would be interesting.

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    Mute Sternn
    Favourite Sternn
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    Nov 27th 2014, 10:09 AM

    Only Fine Gael would try and spin the large emigration figures as a ‘drop in unemployment’.

    The good news is there have been more jobs created and filled with Irish workers.

    The bad news is none of those jobs were in Ireland.

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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Nov 27th 2014, 10:14 AM

    Not so, Sternn. Fianna Fáil were busy at the employment figures massaging while they were in power. Nothing new in these tactics. Just that FG/Lab are not as adept, not having as much practice!

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    Mute Anthony Forrest
    Favourite Anthony Forrest
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    Nov 27th 2014, 10:51 AM

    Just don’t be the MORONS that ever vote for FF, FG or Labour again

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    Mute Bridey Mangan
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    Nov 27th 2014, 6:41 PM

    Hes probably a school teacher too, ohh my

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    Mute Seán O'Sullivan
    Favourite Seán O'Sullivan
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    Nov 27th 2014, 6:35 PM

    I suppose this would make it the first time a politician here insulted, not even remotely represented the people. oh wait. state of Irish politics

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    Mute Conor McCauley
    Favourite Conor McCauley
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    Nov 28th 2014, 10:06 AM

    The blue graph was nonsense but I don’t see the problem with the CSO’s graph! Gav Reilly being a tad pedantic there! I mean look at any graph of stock prices on google! Showing the 0 would be redundant as illustrated!

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    Mute Adrian Mckenna
    Favourite Adrian Mckenna
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    Nov 27th 2014, 7:00 PM

    Approximately 300’000 people have left this country from 2010 to end of 2013 allowing for inward migration we still have a net figure of 125’000 people who have removed themselves from the live register in that time. If you include this figure how good does the drop in unemployment look now. The CSO is statistical analysis personified, take time to dig into the figures and remove the spin and a very different picture appears.

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    Mute David Lambe
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    Nov 28th 2014, 11:28 AM

    @AlanFarrell explanation to the reduction in unemployment #morons
    http://anasta.net/video/films/horrible-bosses-2-clip-youre-all-morons-2014-kevin-spacey-movie-hd.html

    1
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