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Safety expert: 'Some businesses are using return-to-work plans as a fig leaf - they're not sure what it's meant to do'

Workplaces are grappling with the pandemic-related safety requirements ahead of reopening.

ALL GOING WELL this afternoon, a raft of shuttered-up shops are set to open under Phase 2 of the government’s ‘Road Map’ from next Monday.

Today and over the weekend, many business owners will be putting the finishing touches on their return-to-work plans. But what exactly is required under the government’s rules for reopening and how have employers been grappling with the new dispensation?

Business safety expert Emlyn Ó Troighthigh is the owner-operator of Business Safety, a consultancy with offices in Dublin, Waterford and Cork.

He says that he and his competitors have been “overstretched” in recent weeks with many business owners looking for advice about how to reopen while adhering to the government’s rules.

“The full detail of exactly what has to happen isn’t clear to all small business owners. That’s one issue. The other is that they don’t have the technical expertise so they’re looking for people like consultants to advise them to help them with putting things together,” he said. 

Necessary arrangements

In early May, the government announced its return-to-work safety protocol, detailing a range of essential measures for employers to implement before they could reopen.

The announcement gave workplaces scheduled to reopen on 18 May under Phase One of the Road Map — like construction sites and garden centres —  just a week to implement the necessary arrangements.

A second set of business owners, mostly smaller retailers, will have been wrestling with the same set of guidlines over the past few weeks in a bid to reopen under Phase Two from next Monday.

Employers are required, under the protocol, to put together a reopening plan. 

Among other things, they have to ensure strict adherence to social distancing, provide hand sanitiser, monitor their employees’ temperatures and create designated isolation areas for workers who might fall ill over the course of the working day.

Workplaces are supposed to designate a “lead worker representative, charged with ensuring that Covid-19 measures are strictly adhered to in their place of work”, according to the document. 

Under the plan, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) can order businesses to shut down operations if they do not comply with the rules.

Business owners do not have to notify gardaí or the HSA before reopening, nor will the HSA pre-approve a business’s back-to-work plan.

Fig leaf

Ó Troighthigh says, from his experience, the vast majority of owners are trying their best to roll out the new arrangements but he’s seen several examples of bad practice.

“I’ve been to some building sites where there’s no social distancing in the canteen. There is no recording of who’s coming and going or not [and] the hand sanitising facilities are being provided but not being maintained,” he says.

Neither are all return-to-work plans being made equal, according to Ó Troighthigh.

“Predictably, we’re seeing various qualities of plans put together by business owners. Some of them are quite generic and don’t really say a whole lot about anything. There are some [plans] that you could almost take from a hairdressers’ and put into a woodworking shop and you wouldn’t know the difference,” he said.

“So I think in some cases it’s a bit of a fig leaf.

“People feel they have to have this plan, but they’re not really sure what it’s meant to say or what it’s meant to do for them. So they get someone to write it up for them and then when it’s been written up it goes on the shelf. They know they’ve got something if they’re asked for it but what it does for them, they’re not really sure.”

Confusion

One measure, in particular, seems to be causing a lot of confusion for employers. Under the protocol, owners are required to keep logs of any group work in order to facilitate contact tracing in the event that someone contracts Covid-19.

Ó Troighthigh explains that this is easier in some workplaces than others.

He says, “If you work in an office of five people, it’s easy for people to sign in to work. But [in a workplace] with rotating staff contractors coming and going and shift work, then it’s not necessarily as easy to record who’s going in and out.” 

Retailers do not have to keep a log of all their customers but Ó Troighthigh says he’s been asked the question by a few of his customers.

In advance of Phase Two and particularly the final three phases of the government’s Road Map, Ó Troighthigh believes there is “still time for the official agencies to re-communicate and reinforce” that all the information is available “in reasonably plain English” on the HSA’s website.

While the HSA is not amenable to employers sending in their plans and “running the ruler across it”, he says that they are good at giving advice.

Ó Troighthigh’s own advice for confused employers?

“In the first instance, consult the HSA’s website to get an overview of what’s required. Maybe speak to your Local Enterprise Office to see what assistance can be given.”

As a last measure, he says you can call someone “who will offer a professional service but that’s going to cost more money. That’s the dilemma”.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:07 PM

    To go around the shambles and carnage shooting those he thought were only wounded or feigning death takes a special kind of hate and savagery….

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    Mute Cowboys Ted
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    Jun 15th 2016, 2:28 AM

    Haunting. Difficult for the logical human brain to understand. No words to describe this whole thing.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:10 PM

    It will achieve nothing to develop prejudice against all Muslims. There are over a billion Muslims. Turning our hate on over a billion people will not just be futile, it will be a self fulfilling prophecy.

    Living in hate can develop into dying in hate. It’s our choice between hate or rationality.

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    Mute UndieGrundy
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:17 PM

    You can hate the religion without hating the believer. You can hate what religions have done and continue to do, and Islam and its followers are a very real threat. You can hate Islam itself. It’s the believers that give it its power and so it’s believers are fair game.

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    Mute Critical_Thinker
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:59 PM

    Almost a billion Muslims think that homosexuality should be illegal, according to Pew Research Center.

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    Mute Phil Blanc
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:04 PM

    So what, Thinking homosexuality should be illegal ≠ shooting people in a gay club.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:06 PM

    Michael….a bit late for that?

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    Mute The Oracle of Delphi
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:13 PM

    11 countries have the penalty for gay people. Guess what religion the majority of the population of those countries practice?

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    Mute Critical_Thinker
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:14 PM

    That’s just how many think it should be illegal, and who admitted it. Hundreds of millions probably think it should carry the death penalty. ‘Moderate’ Muslims probably aren’t in the vast majority as the media etc would have you believe.

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    Mute Henri Poincaré
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:16 PM
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    Mute Joe Mc mahon
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:23 PM

    Roman Catholic? Oh wait… that was only a few years ago… We’ve changed now right??????

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    Mute Ziggy722
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:24 PM

    Okay so when a lone gunman commits their supposed massacres, and this ain’t a Hollywood movie because almost no one kills another human being for pleasure and no one gunman can kill dozens of people unless he’s the feckin Terminator . Statistically, trained US policemen involved in a shooting have a hit ratio of about 30%, sometimes even less, way less – even less than 2%! So how come crazy or fanatical ‘homophobic Muslim’ gunmen are better shooters than professional cops? Moreover, any Garda or cop from just about anywhere around the globe will corroborate that 96% of all murders are committed by people who knew their victims, and that before the suspects are arrested, the police has to provide not only proof – which takes a long time to gather unlike the 9 O’Clock news that immediately hand you the suspect – but a motive as well, which itself is “how the suspects benefit from the alleged crimes”. So the first question to ask in these mass murder circumstances is Qui Bono or Who benefits? This crime serves the clash if civilisations narrative perfectly well.

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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:28 PM

    Ziggy have you ever been inside a nightclub?

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    Mute The Oracle of Delphi
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:48 PM

    It would be harder to miss with an AR15 in such a confined space.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:55 PM

    Assault rifle with cyclic rate approx 600 rpm….5.56mm high velocity…several magazines and total familiarity with the weapon….and a desire to please Mohammed and become a martyr….

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:03 PM

    Some people have an unhealthy monomania with the details of lethality of guns. Some people get into the very specific details.

    I think that hate was a more probable motive than a specific desire to please Mohammed but you will believe what it suits you to believe.

    Obviously such powerful killing instruments should not be sold to other than law enforcement authorities. These are guns designed to kill human beings.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:15 PM

    Yes Michael…thats why this muslim warrior brought this gun to the gay nightclub…because it was designed to kill human beings….

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:25 PM

    Back to the tinfoil Ziggy.

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    Mute David Cullen
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    Jun 15th 2016, 12:32 PM

    that’s why church and state should always be separate, secular state

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    Mute Caroline Reid
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:17 PM

    The horror of this will haunt the survivors for the rest of their lives. Just reading about it is hard enough.

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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:35 PM

    Michael why is your main concern Muslims not being treated with kid gloves anymore rather than a concern for the treatment of the lgbt community by Muslims.
    You do know who massacred who, right?

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    Mute John
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:43 PM

    You do know he was gay too unless you count frequenting Gay Clubs and being on Gay dating sites as ‘research’.

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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:51 PM

    Being gay doesn’t make you go out and murder 50 people. Being a gay Muslim who has been thought to hate himself by his holy book, his father who supports a Muslim group that publicly executes homosexuals and by Islamic scholars at your mosque who say killing gays is the compassionate thing to do just might push you to slaughter innocents.

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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:55 PM

    What I’m trying to say is that it is very easy to see where his homophobia/self hatred originated.

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    Mute Machiavelli O'Reilly
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:07 PM

    Fascinating to see the journal consistently frame this as the largest mass shooting as opposed to the biggest terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:15 PM

    RTE and other media are sensibly and accurately presenting this as an anti gay hate crime as that description most closely fits the facts of what happened.

    It is pointless and potentially destructive to try to use Orlando as tinder fir hate between the West and Islam. Proportionality and objectivity are needed.

    Trying to pump up hate and provocation will just escalate the problem and leave moderate Muslimscas targets.

    In addition, the security services don’t want or need to be swamped by false positives from an alarmed public.

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    Mute Machiavelli O'Reilly
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:24 PM

    This was a Muslims terrorist attack perpetrated by an ISIS member on US soil.

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    Mute sparky
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:37 PM

    Machiavelli do try keep up with the story.

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    Mute Phil Blanc
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:07 PM

    Nah, this idiot troll doesn’t care for facts, just blaming all Muslims for pretty much everything.

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    Mute Machiavelli O'Reilly
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:09 PM

    The terrorist killer was a Muslim, that is an entirely factual statement.

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    Mute James O Donoghue
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:15 PM

    Had he been born a couple of decades sooner he would have said he was soviet. Little before that viet cong before that he would have said he was a nazi. Thing is the media and public opinion is right this was a very ill man. A very sick man who had access to weapons of war. As long as America has these silly laws then more will die. Just take columbine for example you can be sure if they did that today they would for $hits and giggles would have said they were isis. Every country has nut jobs but not every country’s nut jobs can get guns.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:18 PM

    Michael…bit late for this too ? Islams image is quite tarnished and they are feared in many countries…

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    Mute Machiavelli O'Reilly
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:19 PM

    So how come Belgian and French gun control laws couldn’t prevent similar Islamic terror attacks?

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    Mute sparky
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:21 PM

    The perpetrator was a Muslim,a gay Muslim,who was angry,unstable by all accounts from his ex wife..he carried out this atrocitie through anger, not because he was a terrorist..if you can’t understand that..then there’s no point even engaging with you.

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    Mute stopit
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:26 PM

    the “original” Machiavelli was somewhat intelligent.

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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:37 PM

    Sparky you are forgetting to mention that he pledged allegiance to ISIS before the attack..

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    Mute Machiavelli O'Reilly
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:45 PM

     ”Omar Mateen, reportedly called 911 during the rampage and “pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.” Jihadists everywhere quickly celebrated the carnage on the internet and, “…the al-Amaq agency — which functions as ISIS’s propaganda and media wing — claimed that ‘the attack … was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.’”

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    Mute sparky
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:46 PM

    Pt pat..do you not think that was done for his own interests to disguise his real reason.so he would seem like a martyr..

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    Mute Frank's Cat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:55 PM

    So let’s see. He joined ISIS 5 minutes into his first mission, and suddenly that means his anger at his own latent homosexuality must be completely ignored because it might raise awkward questions about gun control.

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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:00 PM

    It’s not that big of a stretch to believe that a violent homophobic Muslim would join a violent homophobic Muslim terrorist group. It’s obvious he had personal issues but to detach him completely from a terrorist group that he declared allegiance to and that share so many of his disgusting ideas is naïve.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:07 PM

    Some just want to latch on to ISIS and to Islam in the hope of escalating mistrust, hate and conflict. That can only achieve one objective.

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    Mute sparky
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:07 PM

    Naive” is thinking he carried out this attack because he was terrorist”

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    Mute Critical_Thinker
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:13 PM

    Michael, the first ‘I’ in ISIS stands for Islam, you know.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:17 PM

    Hes a martyr now…

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    Mute Critical_Thinker
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:17 PM

    Islamic*

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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:17 PM

    He carried out this attack for a lot of reasons, terrorism was one of those reasons. It is naïve to ignore that.

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:18 PM

    And he was quite skilful in his murderous use of his new gun…

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    Mute Peter Fechter
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:20 PM

    Again…a bit late…ISIS seek mistrust,hate and conflict….they thrive on it…no point blaming their victims for not admiring them…

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:22 PM

    An Imam in Orlando recently stated in an interview that killing gays ‘out of compassion’ was an entirely appropriate thing to do (can link to the video if people want).
    Sure, this guy obviously had anger management issues etc., and it’s now looking increasingly likely that he may have been gay himself, but it’s also a distinct possibility that his actions were influenced by imams like the one above.

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    Mute sparky
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:24 PM

    Terrorism attacks are carried out for one reason they are terrorist’s,this was carried out solely because of his own insecurities.If the gun laws in the us, were more strict this wouldn’t have happened.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Jun 15th 2016, 12:40 AM

    What inspires someone to become a terrorist though Sparky? Sure, it may have had nothing to do with Islam in this case, but equally well it just might. You certainly can’t tell either way.

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    Mute sparky
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    Jun 15th 2016, 1:04 AM

    Avina..I keep an open mind not a prejudice one.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Jun 15th 2016, 1:55 AM

    Hmmmm……

    “He carried out this atrocity through anger, not because he was a terrorist”.

    “This was carried out solely because of his own insecurities”.

    Doesn’t sound much like keeping an open mind to me……

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    Mute John
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:19 PM

    Most people in a nite-club are scantily dressed, how in the name of Jebus did he get two guns in without looking at least a bit suspicious?

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    Mute Red hurley
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    Jun 15th 2016, 7:32 AM

    Such an unfortunate name. “Colon”

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    Mute Dave O' Looney
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    Jun 14th 2016, 10:35 PM

    “But by the glory of got it hits my hand”. The irony of this statement……

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    Mute Teene Nyantoon
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    Jun 14th 2016, 11:27 PM

    49 dead and He’s thanking god for him surviving. Truly amazing.

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Jun 15th 2016, 9:38 AM

    What else idoes this victim have to go through before you’ll stop mocking his religious faith?

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    Mute Dave O' Looney
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    Jun 16th 2016, 8:10 AM

    How can one have faith when they believe they were spared death by the same source everyone else died. And to answer your question, I will never stop mocking religion because it deserves it.

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    Mute Ronan Murphy
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    Jun 15th 2016, 9:02 AM

    You know you, the Journal, could at least stop repeating that it is the biggest mass shooting in US history.

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    Mute Adam Smythe
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    Jun 14th 2016, 9:17 PM

    Lucky people

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