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Column The countdown to Project Maths is on – what should you expect?

This week the State exams begin and Leaving and Junior Certificate students are getting ready to tackle Project Maths. John Devlin has some tips for those worried about the new syllabus.

Project Maths is a new approach to teaching mathematics at secondary level; it attempts to make maths relevant to everyday life by encouraging teenagers to understand concepts using practical techniques.

ON JUNE 7 and 10, over 110,000 Leaving and Junior Certificate students will sit their maths Paper 1 and Paper 2.

As expected, one of the main talking points remains the controversy around Project Maths, the new syllabus currently being phased in to teach maths through real-life and everyday situations.

Uncertainty over the type of questions that will be asked is one of the main causes of anxiety among our students. Even those who have, ad nauseam, practised the sample papers provided by SEC (State Examination Commission) and other private companies still worry ‘what if something is asked that I haven’t seen before?’

Debate about maths syllabus is not new

I deal with maths every day of my life, as a parent of a Junior Cert student, as an engineer, an entrepreneur (founder positivemaths.ie) and an employer of graduate engineers through my company Kinetics Process Consulting. Over the past three years, we have given 18 graduate engineers their first large scale biotech project opportunity in locations such as Switzerland, France and Hungary.

Although it was a long time ago, I remember that same feeling very well. I sat my Leaving Cert in 1979 with the ‘new’ exam format for maths having been introduced in 1978. Our teacher warned us that because there had been an unusually high number of A’s in ‘78 the ’79 exam could be harder as the examiners tried to find the right balance. Despite our anxieties, we all made it through and those of us who wanted to pursue careers in engineering were able to do so.

Thirty-four years later, things haven’t changed. We are still tinkering with the syllabus and still judging our students’ mathematical ability on their performance over a six hour period in June. I believe that more students could be encouraged to study higher level maths and to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), however we need more qualified and passionate teachers, smaller class sizes and we need to reduce the pre-exam anxieties as much as possible.

How many students decided not to sit the higher level paper in June as a result of mock exams which were badly worded, harshly marked and for which they were insufficiently prepared as a result of their class not having finished the course by February?

The desire to succeed

I fully support the concept of encouraging more students into the maths and science fields and I fully support the move to relate the teaching of maths to everyday life; I don’t support the elimination of certain topics from the higher level course and I believe we need to reconsider the type of questions that are being asked on the exam papers. Remember we are trying to encourage students, not discourage them.

However, irrespective of the syllabus and the method of assessment, perhaps the most important ingredient for students to succeed in maths is the desire to do so. This translates into the willingness to spend more time figuring out the concepts, practicing a wide variety of problems and knowing when to ask for help. Some students will understand concepts quicker than others, but once the desire is there, most students can achieve a high level of competence in maths, this in turn will build self-confidence and give students a skill of understanding and learning that can be applied to other concepts within the maths and science fields.

I’m passionate about maths and how it is taught, learned and applied which prompted me to establish www.positivemaths.ie earlier this year to help students who have the desire to learn but may need that extra support in order to understand the concepts and perform better in their exams.

Given the concerns, uncertainty, and stresses surrounding the Project Maths syllabus, the www.positivemaths.ie team will provide a free SOS live chatroom facility from 7 to 9pm every evening from 1 to 9 June where experienced and qualified tutors will be on hand to answer any last-minute questions.

Relate questions to the basic maths theory

Greek Mathematician, Pythagoras, who lived from 569 to 500 BC, is credited with the discovery of the theorem named after him. However, it is thought that ancient Babylonians and Egyptians who lived thousands of years earlier were aware of the relationship defined by the theorem. So, no matter how much our education system tinkers with the syllabus and assessment, it is highly unlikely that the theory behind the mathematical concepts will change in our lifetime.

With that in mind, it is important for every student to relate the question they are being asked to the basic maths theory (theories) which never change. Specifically, students should follow these steps in preparation for Project Maths type questions:

  1. Know the theory and equations. If you dealing with a trigonometry problem and you know how to apply the three basic trigonometric ratios – Pythagoras theorem, the sine rule and the cosine rule – then you have all you need to solve a right angled or a non-right angled triangle problem. (It is a good idea to practice the use of these relationships with the old format exam papers)
  2. Look through the wording of the question and pick out the maths related information. Bring a highlighter and highlight the relevant pieces of the question. Watch out for numbers written as words, for example thirty instead of 30
  3. If no diagram is drawn for you, try to draw one yourself. Mark in the numerical information you are given. This can be very helpful to visualise what you are being asked
  4. Relate the information you have to the theory and equations. Have you got a right angled triangle or a non-right angled triangle? Have you got two right-angled triangles that need to be solved separately? This will point you to the appropriate equations to be considered
  5. Do not leave any blanks. Attempt every question. If you leave a blank the examiner will have no choice but to give you zero marks for that question. If you attempt the question you will probably get some marks and perhaps more than you think
  6. When asked for your opinion, always try to relate your opinion to the mathematical concepts

Most importantly, remember there are tens of thousands of other students in the same position. You are not alone and as long as you are familiar with the theory and equations, you should have everything you need to solve the problems.

John Devlin is the founder of www.positivemaths.ie, a popular online learning resource for Junior and Leaving Cert maths students. He is an experienced maths tutor, a parent of secondary school students and CEO of Kinetics Process Consulting (KPC), a key supplier of specialist services to the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical industries. He is also a published author in the field of plant start-up and commission and has 30 years’ experience working in a senior management capacity on some of the largest global biotech investments.

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    Mute Anne Gyna
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:54 PM

    Why can we not have a politician like the Morrocon-born Mayor of Rotherdam, Achmed Aboutaleb, who today told his fellow Muslims that if they do not like how we live our lives in Europe, then they could go f€€k off back to their own €€€t countries & shut up!!! Yayyyyy……at last, a Mayor with a pair!!!

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    Mute Scipio
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:07 PM

    Bravo to Ahmed Aboutaleb.

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    Mute Censored
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:27 PM

    Maybe in Europe where they have historical relationships with Islamic nations, but all Ireland has to do to prevent inevitable terror attacks is to stop importing Muslims. We don’t owe them anything. Let them migrate to Britain or one of the other former empires.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:37 PM

    stop importing muslims?, so people are products or commodities now, what about Christians and jews adolf?

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:45 PM

    Are you proposing s Guaranteed Irish scheme for home-grown Muslims, or just banning them altogether?

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:11 PM

    who is this ‘we’ you are referring to Censored?

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    Mute KalEll
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:25 PM

    A one way trip to European Court of Human Rights paid for by the taxpayers. Great idea

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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    Jan 14th 2015, 7:56 AM

    “up to one million”

    All independently verifiable sources put the death toll at a maximum of 200,000 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and jihadists killed. These were killed by actions of the Coalition but also the Iraqi Armed Forces of the Saddam regime and subsequent jihadist groups.

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    Mute Charles Rex
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:37 PM

    Sadly he’s right. A few headbangers will get through the net, taking full advantage of western civil liberties to try to destroy those same freedoms.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:23 PM

    time to kick the EU out of Ireland folks

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    Mute tk0CXKzL
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:28 PM

    I’m not a conspiracy nut but I can imagine someday that some crazy people propose we all get microchipped so this kind of thing can’t happen. Which I obviously believe would be a step to far

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    Mute Moonshine
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:45 PM

    Mobile phones and in car GPS. If you don’t already think we’re not monitored, you’re naive. CCTV everywhere. ATM machines, store loyalty cards. IP addresses. Credit card transactions. Flight info. We do most of the work ourselves; twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

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    Mute fact&ionlydealinfact
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:50 PM

    Pity with all that monitoring they couldn’t trace those fukwits in France last week.

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    Mute Frank
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:15 PM

    ericm_ The Chip is coming whether you like it or not and whether you believe in God or not.

    “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark in their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

    This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man That number is 666″ Revelation 13:16 to 18.

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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:21 PM

    @framk you need to see kill the messenger about the cia show you what they are capable of! Everyone else should watch it to evrn you moonshine

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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:02 PM

    A hearty well done to George Bush Snr for the Gulf War and Jnr for the 2nd one,without the two of you we could never have reached this level of radicalisation,enjoy your retirements fellas.

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    Mute Jason
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:49 PM

    Nothing they did would have stopped the radicalisation of branches of Islam. It’s a cultural war, a war of values. It would’ve happened regardless.

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    Mute Anthony Lang
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:35 PM

    Jason, the Bushes and their regimes have precipitated the radicalisation. Detention without trial and improsonment have added to the radicalisation process.

    We can’t shut national borders to the extent of making them impermeable.

    We cannot remove citizenship and we are obliged to allow freedom of movement to citizens in other EU countries.

    The point of the article is interesting. If we remove individual freedom, we may reduce terrorist risk but that is too high a price unless one I’d of a very authoritarian outlook.

    We also need a sense of proportionality. Accidents, smoking, alcohol, drugs, homelessness, bad diet and lack of exercise pose far greater threat to human life.

    The chances of being murdered in a terrorist attack in Europe are almost infinestesmilly small. We need to avoid overreaction and needless alarmism.

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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:51 PM

    You see Jason,there is no doubt all across the board that the U.S. wars in Iraq x 2 and Afghanistan have fuelled a significant amount of radicalisation,whereas what you’ve stated is without foundation or evidence,that radicalisation was inevitable anyway.

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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:13 PM

    Big brother is in full effect can I have permission to use the toilet??????

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    Mute Sean Macc
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:34 PM

    No need to monitor all citizens. But Muslims who have traveled to warzones in the Middle East should be prevented from re-entering their countries, regardless of what their citizenship technically is.

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    Mute Telbar Comuta
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    Jan 13th 2015, 10:10 PM

    It’s a good thing all Irish citizens who had visited Belfast weren’t banned from going to England.

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    Mute Anne Gyna
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:11 PM

    #Paulie, he sure did & a whole lot more too, check it out on any News site. He got a standing ovation, for saying what millions are thinking, but feel bullied into silence. Some other politician is quoted as saying of him…”A breath of fresh air is now wafting through Europe”. I wonder could we clone him for Ireland?

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    Mute Mr. Dave
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:47 PM

    How about Britain and France start by not arming ‘moderate’ rebels in Syria. Its clear as day most of these weapons fall into the wrong hands.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:15 PM

    ‘moderate’ rebels…… I love that propaganda rhetoric
    ‘moderate ‘ rebels attack Paris..!

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    Mute Patricia McCarthy
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:37 PM

    Try smoking a cigarette in public and you will soon find out how much personal freedom you have.

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    Mute Alan b
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:49 PM

    Patricia just because you want to inhale toxic poisonous cancerous smoke into your lungs doesn’t mean the rest of us do

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    Mute Praise Hope
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:54 PM

    Hope you live in the countryside so Alan incase you breath in toxic car exhaust fumes.

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    Mute Alan b
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:31 PM

    There is cars in the country side some people even have tractors there.you should get out into the real world sometime.

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    Mute Caillte
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    Jan 13th 2015, 10:37 PM

    I think most smokers would have an interest in watching this. Watch until the end though.
    The Most Radioactive Places on Earth: http://youtu.be/TRL7o2kPqw0

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    Mute gerard devany
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    Jan 14th 2015, 6:45 PM

    Alan B, suck on a bus exhaust and don’t forget your fluoride.

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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:11 PM

    Did he really say that?

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    Mute Alan b
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:16 PM

    Frank will have a wet dream when he reads this

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    Mute Ianwalsh79
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    Jan 13th 2015, 10:42 PM

    I just spoke to Frank and he’s still creaming himself as we speak.

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    Mute Joe Travers
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:28 PM

    Oh my. The nsa orgasms can be heard from here.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:16 PM

    World War Z.ionism

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    Mute Moonshine
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:46 PM

    Always the Jews. Broken record.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:23 PM

    I never said jews, learn to read son

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    Mute Jason
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:51 PM

    So who do you mean when you say z. Ionists?

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    Mute Frank
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:09 PM

    Moonshine_ You are a Shill because you always throw the antisemitic trump card any time someone brings up the subject of political Zi0nism and its crimes.

    Political Zi0nism is NOT Judaism and there are hundreds and thousands of Jews that reject Israel’s foreign and domestic war policies.

    Political zi0nism is the heart and soul of this rising fascist shadow government.that is infiltrating the the world. We got a taste of it true brutality last summer in Gaza when the king pin of this shadow Government became the untouchable for its genocide crimes.

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    Mute Jason
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:22 PM

    Frank, you dismiss mainstream media yet use links from them to try and proof your points.

    You dismiss religion, yet quote the bible.

    You’re a walking contradiction.

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    Mute Frank
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:30 PM

    Jason_ I quote toilet paper if its within the context of a topic being discussed.

    I already mentioned today that the Mainstream Media is a cocktail of truth mixed up with a political agenda to serve Western Zio interests and its rising shadow world Government.

    If this was not the case we would be hearing a lot more of what is going on in Syria other than all this propaganda and lies. There was no mention in the mainstream media of the US bombing a prison in Syria last month killing at least 50 civilian inmates.

    http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/12/witnesses-us-led-strike-isis-jail-killed-more-50-civilians

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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:23 PM

    Come on frank lets have it give’em some!

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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 13th 2015, 7:50 PM

    Jesus did frank get kicked out or what??????

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    Mute Jane Travers
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:00 PM

    Ah feck, what’d I miss?

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    Mute Timber Planks
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:51 PM

    Must have!

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    Mute Aoife Booth
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:11 PM

    So, you want to ban Muslims from visiting their families and homeland just because they are Muslims in case one or two might be terrorists?! Sure why don’t we just put them all in open air prisons like Gaza and don’t let them leave at all. We won’t have to worry at all then. Looks like the real terrorists plan is working so…!

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    Mute Jay McGregor
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:31 PM

    If Muslims are chaosing this much chaos in Europe, then perhaps it’s time to stop allowing them to migrate to Europe. Whilst also coming down like a tonne of bricks on the extremists. If they want to live by the law of the desert, then they can stay in the middle east.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:40 PM

    I wish the bigots would leave Ireland, plenty of them posting on here

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    Mute Jay McGregor
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:46 PM

    I wish the Islamophiles would clear off to live in some Islamic paradise.

    43
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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:03 PM

    im in the ‘church of the flying spaghetti monster’.. can I stay..?

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    Mute Telbar Comuta
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    Jan 13th 2015, 10:12 PM

    The Good Friday Agreement has apparently been so successful, that this short of bs can be spouted on an IRISH message board, apparently without irony.

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    Mute Paddy OConnor
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    Jan 13th 2015, 8:50 PM

    Seriously! I believe we ought have a number of military and police- retirees perhaps given additional pension topup- carry concealed guns. If would be terrorists knew that in any public place there would always be someone ready to surprise and possibly thwart them they might think twice. Additionally people would feel less incined to be afraid;
    the purpose of these terror attacks is to instil fear,promote appeasement and finally dictate the terms of surrender.
    We shouldn’t wait any longer.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:12 PM

    go make that suggestion to a NATO country, not here in our republic

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    Mute Paddy OConnor
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:47 PM

    @Inpro…… My country too! You controlling citizen’s rights to free speech or what? if you can’t offer a counter proposal don’t shoot the other person’s.

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    Mute inproperganda
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    Jan 14th 2015, 6:50 AM

    im not controlling anything, you could migrate to Britain, plenty of loyalist muslim hating groups over there and you might feel more at home to

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    Mute Paddy OConnor
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    Jan 14th 2015, 7:41 AM

    That’s for sure you don’t and won’t ever control anything.
    As for hating muslims- I don’t. I hate the Islamic terrorists and the Islamic doctrine of hate that inspires them to commit the barbaric acts all over the world.
    As it seems you’re an apologist for them perhaps you should go off with them.
    I am heartened by the increasing number of Irish people who are acquainting themselves with Islamic sacred text and seeing the darkness therein.Eventually we’ll be a majority and apologists for Islamic violence and terror will scurry away.

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    Mute johngahan
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    Jan 13th 2015, 10:41 PM

    Hopefully Sinn Fein/IRA have the good sense not to go out and train ISIS, despite the substantial financial attraction that has brought them such good business for the war chest in the past.

    IRA terrorist training in Columbia, North Korea and other locations are history now. It’s years since Gerry Adams last attended a North Korean dictator birthday party.

    We must look forward and block out these memories from our minds in order to help secure Sinn Fein their majority mandate in 2016 and take us to a United Ireland, governed with compassion towards all.

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    Mute Patricia McCarthy
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    Jan 13th 2015, 9:32 PM

    Alan your diesel fumes are a million times more toxic and dangerous than cigarette smoke will ever be.

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    Mute Windom Earle
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    Jan 14th 2015, 11:05 AM

    All Muslims should be chiped.

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