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Social housing in south Dublin. Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

How many people were suspended from housing lists for refusing multiple offers? It's the week in numbers

Plus: The total number of ATMs stolen by criminal gangs north and south of the border.

EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.

€5 million: The expected cost of a proposed food hall in central Dublin, which now has its plans back on track after the company overturned a proposed 10pm curfew. 

15: The total number of ATMs stolen by criminal gangs north and south of the border in recent weeks. 

235: The number of student beds approved for the Liberties despite numerous concerns being raised by local residents and politicians. 

357: The number of applicants from 22 councils – a mixture of families and individuals – who were suspended from their housing waiting list for refusing more than one offer of housing.

70: The number of years it has been since Ireland became a republic. At midnight on 18 April 1949, Easter Monday, Ireland officially became a Republic and left the Commonwealth.

€88,953: The amount of money that Dublin City Council forfeited in unpaid library fines in 2018 in an effort to boost memberships. 

152: The number of towns and election areas that are going poster-free for the upcoming local elections in a bid to cut down on cardboard waste. 

10: The number of motorists accused of dodging M50 tolls who were hit with fines totaling almost €100,000.

59: The number of candidates who will contest the European Parliament elections across three constituencies. 

63,303: The number of people who were treated for problem drug use between 2011 and 2017, according to fresh data from the Health Research Board.

€25,600: The estimated cost of the porn collection of a US man who is suing his parents for throwing it away. 

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A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

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26 Comments
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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 18th 2016, 10:58 AM

    They should teach adults too

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    Mute John S
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:13 AM

    If an adult wants to learn how to code, there are sites like pluralsight which are absolutely fantastic learning resources.

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    Mute Robert Neale
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:06 PM

    Nobody is stopping you, Guru:
    https://www.codecademy.com/learn/python

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    Mute The Guru
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:37 PM

    Ugh effort

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 18th 2016, 7:31 PM

    You could easily learn, Guru.

    People make the mistake of thinking you need to be particularly clever to code. You don’t – it’s easier than doing crosswords or sudoku or figuring out league tables.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jul 18th 2016, 8:06 PM

    @Martin Byrne,
    How would yo know?
    You wouldn’t be able to do any of those things.

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 19th 2016, 6:57 AM

    Oh you might be right, Eamon :-) I’m probably quite stupid.

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    Mute Joe Sullivan
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:25 AM

    As a software engineer myself, I think this is a bad idea. Third level is where people are supposed to train for their career, not primary or secondary level. Primary and secondary level subjects should teach broad skills, not specific ones like coding.

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    Mute Jane Waters
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:32 AM

    @joe
    Couldn’t agree more Joe. In Primary School children should be leaning about the joy of life long learning

    58
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    Mute Good Early
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:32 AM

    Teaching programming using programs like Scratch teaches logic. Its not an actual.language but uses building blocks. This teaches logic and critical.thinking if anything.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:38 PM

    Give them the building blocks and let them build their own life I say. Much more helpful than let’s say religion.

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    Mute molly coddled
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:03 PM

    Both my lads would say secondary school Joe, one is a software developer and the other is entering 4th year college studying IT. They both had the same maths/computer science teacher who was exceptional and encouraged those with an interest to keep interested in maths and computer science. He worked with Limerick uni to introduce ecdl certification at junior cert level, even entering projects to the scratch competition at leaving cert level, of which he successfully had two students reach the national finals in 2012, one of which was my son. Dedicated teachers is what’s needed, not a primary school teacher that is already over stretched as it is and who probably has zero interest in computer science/coding anyway.

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    Mute Sean McCann
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    Jul 18th 2016, 7:01 PM

    Agreed.

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    Mute Damocles
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:00 AM

    Great. Just what I need, a generation of tech savvy youngsters lowering my daily rate.

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    Mute Damocles
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:52 AM

    If there was a tech savvy generation of low rate youngsters available then there might be more coding jobs available.

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    Mute Oleksandr Savitskyy
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:54 AM

    @Fake Avast. There are plenty of IT jobs in Ireland. The demand for such professionals is all time high. You are mixing us with Russia.

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    Mute Partysauras Rex
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:05 PM

    Fake Avast: Are you joking? The rate of non-nationals employed in development jobs is phenomenally high due to the lack of locals with the required skill sets. There are plenty of development jobs in the country and a shortage of people to fill them.

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    Mute Aidan Clarke
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:57 PM

    The reason that there is so many non-nationals is that companies set the bar so high that then can ensure they cannot find anyone, then pay someone in india at a much lower rate and with dubious qualifications, work them 50 hours a week and if they dont like it send them home.

    id like to see a comparison between some that they have hired from outside and the person they turned down here. Out of a class of 30 degree students in a college i was in only 3 got jobs in our software companies that are crying out for people.

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    Mute Partysauras Rex
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:39 PM

    Aidan, as someone that interviews for software engineering roles on a regular basis I have to say the entitlement culture among a large set of Irish graduates is incredible. They seem to believe a degree is a guarantee to a high paying job. Turning up to an interview with a 2.1 with no extra curricular activities, bugger all interest in the technologies and no research on the job/company/industry is a common standard for graduates. For what it’s worth, our non-national employees often get paid more because they have better qualifications and do bother to show interest in their work and industry ;-)

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    Mute Partysauras Rex
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    Jul 18th 2016, 4:20 PM

    Nobody in IT uses jobs.ie ;-)

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    Mute Aidan Clarke
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    Jul 19th 2016, 9:01 AM

    Having interviewed many potential candidates myself i disagree some of the poor standards in non-nationals beggers belief. I have worked with some that didnt know what an if statement or a loop was.

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    Mute Steph Anie
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:14 AM

    Where is this going to fit in alongside the 11 other subject teachers have to cover each week?

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    Mute Robert Neale
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:07 PM

    They’ll use something called a schedule or timetable.

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    Mute Steph Anie
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:15 PM

    Thanks for that insight, as a teacher I’m well aware of the concept. My point is, the curriculum is already overloaded, increasingly so with a new language curriculum being rolled out from September. This is just another example of the lack of forward planning from the Department. Yes, I’d like to be involved in something like this, but first give us the resources-time, training, hardware.

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    Mute Robert Neale
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:22 PM

    Scrap religion.

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    Mute Steph Anie
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:23 PM

    Not going to happen when schools are under patronage.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:36 PM

    Then we need to change the system.

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    Mute John Clark
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:15 PM

    Yeah you’re right. Scrap religion and enhance the kids future with ideology, like the muslims……..

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    Mute Robert Neale
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:16 PM

    Religion is ideology, you dope John. Try grasping logic & what I actually said.

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    Mute B9xiRspG
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:20 PM

    There’s plenty of other subjects that would be better suited to be started in secondary school. My kid attends CoderDojo outside of school and I think he should do the same for religion and instead I would have liked him to have started some foreign languages instead in primary school.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jul 18th 2016, 10:57 AM

    Well I suppose it’s better that brainwashing them about multiculturalism.

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 18th 2016, 7:29 PM

    We could teach hate and racism, Eamon! Let’s burn some crosses!

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Jul 18th 2016, 8:04 PM

    @Martin Byrne,
    Whatever, Mr Virtue Signaler.

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 19th 2016, 6:54 AM

    Ok Eamon. Have a lovely day. I hope you do t meet anyone outside your little microcosm

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    Mute tommy macdonagh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 10:57 AM

    if we could just get rid of irish and religion we would have something resembling proper education

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    Mute Shane Walsh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:14 AM

    I think you should of focused more on English and not be worrying about Irish & Religion.

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    Mute Edward
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:16 AM

    Unpopular opinion, but 100% correct, both should be optional, considering in primary school we spend 4 hours a week on maths and 2.5 hours on religion in 2016 is an absolute disgrace. As a parent I couldn’t care a less if my kids know irish, Irish won’t get them a job.

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    Mute Mark Nugent
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:49 AM

    Why Irish Tommy ?

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    Mute tommy macdonagh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:54 AM

    because it’s a complete waste of money.

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    Mute tommy macdonagh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:59 AM

    irish is a complete waste of time and more importantly money. it should be scrapped immediately

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:32 PM

    TOMMY, Do you want to get rid of Irish culture and sovereignty as well and embrace globalisation?

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    Mute CazzoA
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:36 PM

    If the only argument for learning Irish is to learn about our culture, then set up Irish language museum. Let kids visit it on school tours. Or even have an Irish language module in school, where they can learn some basic Irish during a ten week course, then move onto another topic. That would keep it going. But is it really necessary to have every child learning Irish every single day? If it’s just for the purposes of keeping the language alive. It’s not alive, it never will be. We all speak English. It’s an insult to our children to spend time and resources on a dead language when they could be learning coding/science/ethics/Spanish/German/French. Our children are worth so more more than insulting them with this.

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    Mute tommy macdonagh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:40 PM

    with the majority merely possessing the ability to ask to go for a piss in irish after a decade of torture its easy see why anyone with a brain would consider it a complete waste of time and money.

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    Mute tommy macdonagh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:05 PM

    all those subjects are useful, irish is absolutely useless. 1 billion a year wasted on that nonsense

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    Mute CazzoA
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:51 PM

    But is “preserving our heritage” by teaching children Irish every day really a positive thing? Enforcing a compulsory language on children for 14 years? That has no value after school?

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    Mute CazzoA
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    Jul 18th 2016, 3:07 PM

    I hardly think we can call it our own language. Mine is English and it appears yours it too. Treat it as a cultural antiquity and let people determine their own level of interest in it. Enforced learning when that time could be better spent isn’t helping the language.
    I don’t know about you but I couldn’t converse in Irish despite learning it every school day for 14 years. I haven’t needed to use a word of it since I left so it has left me. I resent the time I spent on it when I could have learnt a foreign language.How was that valuable?

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 18th 2016, 7:25 PM

    Definitely make Irish optional and leave religion in the church where it belongs

    But as for teaching coding – it seems a bit silly to me (coder for decades) because it changes so quickly. Teach critical thinking skills and logic.

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 18th 2016, 7:28 PM

    I love Irish – gorgeous language and I love speaking it. But I would make it optional so that those who chose it would be serious about it.

    I’d teach just the language – literature etc. as a separate subject. Then beidh saghas tríal ag ár teanga fhéin at aon nós.

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    Mute bings
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:06 AM

    We require up to date computers in the school to teach this. Also teachers who know what they are doing or outside people to come in & teach it.

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    Mute デイビッド
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:15 AM

    No you don’t require any update to the existing hardware in schools.
    You basically learn general computing on any machine that’s on the x86 chipset, like millions have already done.

    Kids won’t be doing high performance programming at this level.

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    Mute Conor Power
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:00 PM

    Raspberry Pis – have a bake sale

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    Mute Paddy Ryan
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:04 PM

    The BBC for example are sending out 1m micro:bit computers to school kids. .. My only reservation is that this particular initiative is being managed by the Irish government who’ve about as much understanding of IT as a golden retriever. There’s a good chance they’ll screw it up so badly we’ll end up with a generation of Irish kids who’ll come to resent it like we do with Irish.

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    Mute Good Early
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:14 PM

    True Paddy, but here a Committee would have to be setup first, with members from all political parties, with expenses of course.

    And after the Committee rules that it’s a good idea, external consultancy firms would have to be hired, at the cost of millions to advise the committee on how to role it out.

    Then DOB will magically secure the contract to provide €1 computers to each school at a until cost of €1,000 per unit. 1000% mark-up!

    Then a Public Accounts Committee will be setup to investigate the farce but will conclude, that after long deliberations, expenses, and legal advise, that it was the best deal that the State could get at the time!

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    Mute Alien8
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:01 AM

    in lieu of the significant drop in students taking religion as a final subject for the leaving cert (almost 0% vs maths, English and Science), can you ask the NCCA to allocate proportional time to subjects based on their educational needs, and reduce religious education down to something also closer to zero hours. Thanks, Ireland’s parents.

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    Mute Anne O Brien
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:56 AM

    Many schools are , once again , ahead of the Dept of Education and have introduced coding already beginning with programmes such as Scratch Junior with younger classes. It slots easily into the problem solving / critical thinking area of the Maths curriculum.

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    Mute Ricky Grimes
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:07 AM

    As long as it doesn’t interfere with religious education.
    Religion is the most important subject in the curriculum.
    Let’s be honest here:
    A computer is only a machine, a device. It has no soul.
    But humans have souls.
    ‘”For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?’
    Matthew 16:26.

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    Mute Who's Yer Man
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:14 AM

    Troll rating: 1/10

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    Mute Edward
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:18 AM

    Are you serious or trolling? If we are to be a true secular society then religion needs to be taken out of schools.

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    Mute Ricky Grimes
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:23 AM

    ‘If we are to be a true secular society ‘
    In a Catholic country?
    Not a hope in Hell.

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    Mute Robert Neale
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:09 PM

    It’s Tommy Jung / Tommy Ryder / Oran Joyce / Cal McLaughlin back again with a brand new troll account!
    So subtle… That guy really need a life.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:34 PM

    Who’s Yer Man, how is he a troll? He is expressing a view, that is free speech leading to debate? What you wrote on the other hand is?

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    Mute Conor Power
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:02 PM

    Gr8 b8 m8

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    Mute Who's Yer Man
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:46 PM

    @Alois? Are you a troll? I think you are a troll? Troll? You ask a lot of questions for a troll?

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:37 PM

    Who’s Yer Man, Are you looking for a bite, do you know what the word means?

    1
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    Mute mary
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:02 PM

    The curriculum is way too overloaded as it is!!!

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    Mute Brian McConnell
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    Jul 18th 2016, 4:59 PM

    Ass before the cart again! Try putting usable broadband into primary schools first. Teach coding is a good idea, but real investment first then a curriculum.

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    Mute Patrick Corr
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:11 AM

    This is great news. It will really be beneficial to the kids of today that are the future of our country. While it may not be for everyone, at least give the child a chance and a bit of encouragement. Make coding an optional subject to religion studies.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:20 PM

    I hope this isn’t a way to turn education into a business like the education system in the UK or to the worse system in the US, you can become a millionaire based on what school you went to or how much you pay for your education? Now that is a thought?

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:20 PM

    How much will this end up costing parents is one question?

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    Mute Good Early
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:16 PM
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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:29 PM

    Remember the government will give the contract to one of their own or to an IMF friend?

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    Mute CazzoA
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:48 AM

    I have heard that some teachers are not bothering to teach Science as they just don’t have the time. With the coding idea and another proposal for an Ethics lesson mentioned before, they will need to get rid of the dinosaur aged mythical Religion and Irish classes which are held for every pupil EVERY SINGLE DAY.

    When I graduated with a tech degree, 120 started the course and about 40 finished. We all went into the course completely blind as to what it was about. We had never seen coding or had any clue about program design, just that there were jobs at the end of it.

    But we could recite the rosary and plenty of Irish verbs verbatim. If the Dept of Education is serious about making the future generation more employable, it needs to look at the timetable and make space.

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    Mute tommy macdonagh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:08 PM

    there is a view that torturing kids with irish for over a decade is like eating your greens i.e. its ultimately good for you in the long run, when nothing could be further from the truth. forcing something that we know is absolutely useless on kids is bordering on sadistic.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:00 PM

    So all children should learn consumerism and McDonalds?

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    Mute tommy macdonagh
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:08 PM

    yes they should learn about both, consumerism in business courses and about mcdonals in sciences, amog other subjects. far more useful than peig…

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:39 PM

    How much education should primary children be exposed to before they have a nervious breakdown?

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    Mute Micheal S. O' Ceilleachair
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:25 PM

    The teachers appointed to teach coding in Primary Schools should be appointed in the same way that remedial teachers are appointed to clusters of schools. Each class should have a minimum of two sessions per week. The reason for this is that teaching coding requires that teachers have the ability to code in the first place. It is different to any other subject in that regard at Primary level.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:49 PM

    So Ireland is going to be full of ones on computers, they won’t know the meaning of manual work, I do think they will copy the UK and fill those positions with migrants that will force wages down then and increase unemployment for the lower class like what has happened in the UK now?
    To have a proper system of employment, children should be educated in a whole range of skills and not just focusing on one set? Or is the future of Ireland going to be people behind computers working and knowing nothing as they don’t have to know anything they can’t use a search engine for?
    http://www.henryagiroux.com/
    And see the interview with Henry Giroux https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/347253-episode-max-keiser-929/

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    Mute Paul Mc Manus
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:00 PM

    Calm down there Alois. Never said anything about focusing on only one skill set. It’s about ADDING coding to schooling. And absolutely they should. IT and everything that goes with it is a huge part of the future. Like it or not, that’s the case.

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    Mute Robert Neale
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    Jul 18th 2016, 2:14 PM

    Poor Alois – he/she misread “should kids to taught coding?” as “kids should be taught only coding and nothing else, and all be given desk jobs forever and no physical exercise is allowed”.

    What a strange interpretation of the real question.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:34 PM

    Paul in the future computers might be doing the coding themselves due to cost and time. Tell the computer what you want and it will create the coding. The future can never be predicted as it always changes but I might be scared a bit of it looking at the people who work in Silicon Valley and their children?
    Education should be about priorities not making business opportunities for businesses due to lobbyists?

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:36 PM

    Robert you read someone elses and put my name to it…

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    Mute Robert Neale
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    Jul 18th 2016, 12:10 PM

    Irish is useless, Roy. Music is not.

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    Mute Chris Prior
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:40 PM

    Kids study ICT in primary school here in Vietnam, and it’s roving to be very beneficial for the workforce and technological development. I dont really see the problem

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    Mute damian
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:53 PM

    In Microsoft and Apple stores in the US, they have these classes for kids…. I sat in and listened to a class one day while I was out shopping. Sat there for about an hour and learned quite a bit myself :-) I work in I.T., but I’m not a Software Engineer. They explained basic principles very clearly and the kids were coding away during the class making little apps and games… Fantastic facilities and a great idea. Surely someone like MS can work with the Irish government on creating a curriculum that can be rolled out pretty quickly…. though in saying that, the resource blockage may be on the government/Dept.of.Education side…
    http://www.techlicious.com/blog/microsoft-store-kids-coding-youthspark-summer-camp/

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    Mute Paul Mc Manus
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    Jul 18th 2016, 1:56 PM

    I don’t even know what coding isssssss…… ahhhhhhhhh .__._…__.._.__….__.__…_.__.____…

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:40 PM

    Can you imagine if schools in the future had to teach DNA coding?

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    Mute David Bourke
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    Jul 18th 2016, 11:12 AM

    They should be focusing on teaching kids basic maths before they have them programming. Programming is about maths and logic, schools should focus on that first.

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    Mute Happy Dude
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    Jul 18th 2016, 9:19 PM

    No it’s wrong they should learn coding in third level if that’s their career choice. What happened to prioritising PE ?

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