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Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn is yet again courting fresh controversy after announcing a number of changes to the Irish Junior and Leaving Certificate curriculum. One change which has immediately come under intense and impassioned criticism is the use of Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman as the new voice of the Irish Aural exams.

Bewildered journalists questioned the Minister on the thinking behind spending €8 million for the actor’s services at a packed media address.

Minister Quinn said he was “unaware Mr. Freeman was not a native Irish speaker” but he insisted “his voice is just lovely, like velvet and I think everyone would agree we’re sick of the Donegal dialect”.

Most students interviewed by WWN insisted it is a positive step, one student went as far as to state “The Shawshank Redemption was fuckin’ class so I might actually pay attention now”.

While the opposition parties have heavily criticised the decision they could not hide their admiration for Mr. Freeman. Several TD’s took to twitter to admit that Freeman had ‘possibly the coolest voice in the world’.

A more cynical view was taken by Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin as he said “this is a clear attempt by the government to appear cool and buy votes”. Mr. Martin himself was accused of using similar tactics earlier this month when he claimed to be a fan of Facebook creeping.