An article written by Aoife Dooley appeared in the English Junior Cert, with her words changed, and without her being consulted by the Department of Education.
An article that was written in 2017 featured on Wednesday’s Junior Cert exam, wherein Aoife Dooley jokingly talked about the stresses of public transport.
Since the exam finished, Dooley has been the subject of vicious online abuse from students who sat the exam.
She has been told that she will be raped, that her house windows will be bricked, and that her legs will be cut off, all by students who took Wednesday’s Junior Cert English exam.
Speaking to JOE, Dooley talked about her frustration with how the events have transpired, and the effect it has on her so far.
“Messages haven’t stopped coming in, up until this morning. I might have to shut down some of my pages, which is annoying because I have festivals to promote.”
One of Dooley’s main gripes with the incident is that the words of her article were changed.
Where she wrote the word “poxes”, in the exam they were changed to “idiots”, which she feels may have played a part in the reaction she has received.
She has received abuse on her Twitter page, her Instagram, her YouTube, and her Pinterest, where she said she “didn’t even know you could get messages.”
She has reported the messages to the social media networks, and has shut down the comment section on her Instagram page.
Dooley was initially pleased to be on the Junior Cert, but following the abuse, now says “I just really want it to stop. Nobody deserves this shit.”
JOE has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.
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