Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

627. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware that Leaving Certificate re-corrections are not returned within the correct period, meaning those waiting on these re-corrections face the possibility of missing out on their college placement, leaving them in a position of having to wait until the following year to do their chosen college course; if this error will be corrected, and if he will ensure that college places are offered after the return of any appealed Leaving Certificate papers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39963/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The appeals process for the leaving certificate results are the remit of my colleague, Minister for Education with whom I have consulted in this response. Advancement to Higher & Further Education is the remit of my department and I will also address that in this response.

This year the closing date for submission of Leaving Certificate appeal applications to the State Examinations Commission (SEC) was Monday 2 September. Ultimately, 7,268 candidates applied to appeal 14,287 results. The SEC issued the Leaving Certificate appeal results to all candidates on Friday 27 September, some five weeks after the date of issue of the results, noting that this date has been designed to integrate with the final round of the CAO offers season.

The SEC acknowledges the need to process the appeal results as early as possible, but this must be balanced with the need to allow appeal examiners sufficient time to carry out a thorough review of the candidates’ work and for the related quality assurance measures to take place to ensure that candidates are ultimately awarded the grade their work merits.

It is my understanding that if, following their appeal, a student receives an upgrade, and the revised result places them higher on the order-of-merit list than the last person who received an offer, then the Higher Education Institution will usually instruct the Central Applications Office (CAO) to either offer them a place to begin immediately or offer them a place deferred to the next year. I have no role or remit in this regard.

It is my understanding that in a small number of cases, an offer of a deferred place may be necessary due to fixed constraints in relation to class sizes, clinical placements or laboratory space, among other issues. Such measures will only be taken when all other options have been exhausted. All those involved remain committed to ensuring that every possible effort is made to facilitate students in taking up a place that their grades entitle them to.

I understand this can be very stressful for students when this happens, and I would encourage HEIs to be as flexible as they possibly can be when these circumstances arise.