LEAVING CERTIFICATE/Irish: The first Irish papers of the exam season were not for the faint-hearted. Teachers said only those who put in lots of work during the last two years would be rewarded with a high grade.

The higher-level paper was particularly difficult. Hilari de Barra of St Louis Secondary School, Dundalk, Co Louth, welcomed the changes in the layout of the paper, but said these were offset by some very difficult texts and essays/stories.

The essays and stories tackled some very basic and predictable topics, but the titles used did not assist students, he said.

A question about terrorism was predictable in the light of the September 11th tragedy in New York, he said, but the eventual aiste in that area was phrased in an oblique way.

The texts in question 2 were extremely difficult, said Yvonne O'Toole, an Irish expert with skoool.ie. The first one about the Northern Ireland Police Ombudswoman Nuala O'Loan was particularly challenging, she said.

De Barra said he was very disappointed with this piece. "It would be difficult for even the most gifted of students," he said. He said the vocabulary used was beyond many students.

The second text, which looked at Irish drama over the years, was much more approachable, he said. The first paragraph of that piece compared favourably with the first paragraph of the difficult O'Loan piece. He said it was a bit strange that the two very different pieces should attract the same level of marks.

He said the whole paper was tough and particularly stretched the average student.

O'Toole said ordinary-level students were far happier with their paper. The comprehension pieces were the same as every year and the whole paper was relatively predictable, she said.

The letter was about summer jobs and would have been prepared by lots of students. She said many topics, such as scannain (films), were broad enough to allow students to write what they were familiar with.

De Barra said that students were delighted with a question on "An fón gluaisteach" - better known to many of us as the mobile phone. He said those who spent a lot of their time text- messaging fellow students would have enjoyed the challenge of writing 15 lines on that.

Also in that section was the now predictable question on the World Cup.

The first part of the Léamhthuiscint was a profile of the actress Fionnuala Flanagan, who recently starred in the film The Others.

O'Toole said it was a fairly straightforward piece. She said the questions, while tricky in parts, at least told students in what sections they could find the answers.