Paper gets broad welcome

THERE were few complaints from Cork students after yesterday’s first instalment of Irish in both State examinations.

Irish Paper I was an afternoon sitting followed by the mandatory listening test for Leaving Certificate students.

After finishing the higher level paper, Philip O’Neill from Coláiste Chríost Rí in Cork said it was very fair.

“I had loads of time to finish it and, looking at the last few years, it was probably the easiest paper in a while. I had a bit of trouble with the second comprehension piece, I’m still not sure what exactly it was about but the essays were good,” he said.

A student of the all-Irish Coláiste Daibhéid in the city, Michelle Breathnach from Ballyphehane, said the paper was not difficult but she was expecting more variety.

“I thought the options for the essays were a bit limited, I was expecting something topical like road deaths or politics to come up but they didn’t. I did the debate instead, which was grand,” she said.

Ian Lee of Coláiste Chríost Rí said the ordinary level exam was more difficult than he expected.

“The two comprehensions were grand and I did the letter which was fine. The aural was fairly tough,” he said.

The Junior Cert students left the exam centres well before their seniors, with equally positive reactions.

Ryan Carroll from Deerpark CBS felt he got a good return from the higher level paper.

“A few of the questions on the comprehension were hard, but the paper was grand overall. There were no big surprises,” he said.

Fellow Deerpark student Jordan Noonan switched to ordinary level less than 24 hours before the exam and was happy with his choice when he saw both papers afterwards.