FF trumps Blueshirts in lengthy but broad paper

Leaving Cert History - post-mortem: Fianna Fáil fans sitting the Leaving Cert higher level History paper had much to be pleased about, with questions weighed heavily towards the republican party.

The Blueshirts, however, didn't get much of a look in.

"Three out of the five questions in section B were about Fianna Fáil from 1932 to 1948. Fianna Fáil don't justify that weighting when there were no questions on the coalition government," the vice-president of the History Teachers' Association, Mr Peter Gallagher, said.

Northern Ireland was also given "undue deference", he said, with two questions on the paper.

"I'm not saying that Northern Ireland isn't relevant or significant but two questions shows too heavy a preponderance. It's too big a punch and the 1916 Rising seems to have disappeared as a watershed in Irish history."

There was some overlap in the the questions on the European section C, and in section D there was no question on Hitler.

"There was nothing wrong with any individual question but some students might have been caught on the hop."

Mr Gallagher was concerned about the length of some of the questions, a view shared by ASTI history representative, Mr John O'Sullivan.

"The question in section B which asked students about the success of the different Irish governments from 1948 to 1966 was an awful lot to deal with and would have taken students quite a bit of time," Mr O'Sullivan said.

There's always a tricky section every year, he said, and this year it was section B. Section A, however, offered students "a very good choice", he said.

Section C was "lovely", he said, and section D offered a reasonable choice, although the inclusion of a part on the cultural achievements of Weimar Germany would have thrown some students.

Mr Gallagher thought the ordinary level paper was "easier than recent years".

"It was user friendly and tested what the students should know."

Sections C and F had been broadened, he said, allowing students to write about a topic of their choice.