Southside TDs Paul Murphy and Jen Cummins have expressed concerns about the current state of the Leaving Certificate.
Statistics from People Before Profit TD Murphy found students who sat the exams between 2020 and 2024 had an advantage over any other Leaving Cert students they competed against.
Per Murphy, 2024’s average grade inflation was 7.5%, while in 2025, it will be lowered to 5.5%.
“Therefore, the class of 2025 will get approximately 15 or 16 points fewer than last year’s class,” he explained.
The Dublin South-West TD said there has been a surge in CAO applicants who sat their exams in previous years applying for college places in 2025, and as they were the students who benefited from the era of grade inflation, that puts them at an advantage over students sitting the Leaving Cert in 2025.
Murphy warned that the class of 2025 could miss out on third-level places if this issue is not rectified by the Department of Education “urgently.”
“I cannot understand how the Minister of State is going to stand over this unfairness, how he cannot see the problem that is here or the many potential solutions that are being suggested that will not unfairly disadvantage anyone.”
Murphy said, “it is obviously unfair for this year’s students to be marked harder than last year’s but it is also unfair if students from previous years, who were told they got a certain number of points, were to have those points reduced, especially when they were never warned this could happen.”
Statistics from Social Democrats TD Cummins found that in 2021, 1,300 students received a maximum of 625 CAO points, which was more than double the number in 2020 and nearly six times the figures from 2019.
“Now we are in a situation where we have students who are achieving the top points; with the maximum points reached and only a certain number of course places, there is nowhere for them to go, so it ends up in a lottery.”
The Dublin South Central TD, who also acts as the party’s spokesperson on education, said, “I am concerned about those students who are on the HEAR and DARE programmes. If grades are being inflated and these students are not reaching the level they could reach – not because of their ability, but due to the inflation – are they at a bit of a disadvantage?”
“I am concerned as to how all of this has affected those students over the past number of years. When we are raising the bar so high, it is difficult for everybody to get there.”
Cummins expressed concern for students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and those with educational needs, namely dyslexia and dyscalculia.
The HEAR and DARE programmes are “vital” for those particular students to meet the points threshold, and said that the Irish education system “only really allows for people to learn in a particular way when it comes to the Leaving Cert.”
“Sometimes, those students who can learn in a particular way will do excellently and for others it does not really work for how their learning styles and knowledge base can be examined. We are getting numerous emails from parents regarding this issue, and we are looking, like Deputy Murphy, for fair assessments, expanded college places and ways of assessing our students in a more equitable way.
Minister of State at the Department of Education Michael Moynihan said, “following the implementation of calculated grades in 2020 and the dual approach of examinations and accredited grades in 2021, two types of intervention have been implemented in recent years.”
“These are the adjustments to examination and assessments arrangements and a post-marking adjustment to outcomes. The first of these – the adjustments to assessment arrangements – assisted students by leaving intact the familiar overall structure of the examinations while incorporating additional choice for students.
Moynihan said that at the Department of Education, the view is “there is a gradual reduction to get back to where we were pre-pandemic.”
“It is important we ensure everyone is catered for. Many people have benefited from the HEAR and DARE programmes and have excelled in their field once they went on to third level education.”
“We all have encountered families that approached us to make sure they could get on those programmes. It is important that we reflect on that and ensure it is taken into account as well with regard to how we gradually get back to a pre-pandemic level in the education system.”
With regards to Murphy’s charges that some students were deferring previous exam results in a bid to get a college place at a later date, Moynihan said “the Department of Education has been advised the proportion of higher education entrants who complete their leaving certificate the previous year is typically approximately 13%; there are currently no indications of a significant variation this year in the proportion of students applying with pre-2025 leaving certificate results when compared to previous years.”
Murphy responded, “the points system has created a lucrative industry of grinds and private schools, systematically enshrining inequality in our education.”
Cummins said, “having worked in education for many years and having my own children go through the Leaving Certificate, it is a time of huge pressure not only for the student but also for everyone around him or her. It is quite a difficult situation – at what point will we be rid of this system?”
In 2021, a bill brought forward by Murphy’s People Before Profit colleague Richard Boyd Barrett looked to abolish the Leaving Certificate, a motion then-Tánaiste Leo Varadkar deemed “unrealistic.”
Speaking at the time in his role as Minister For Higher Education, Simon Harris said, “it is wrong we have created a culture where there is an obsession now with the points race.”
“We need a single portal through which students can apply for further education opportunities and apprenticeships, for which the points system does not apply, and for higher education as well,” he said in March 2021.
The new government has changed its tack.
Moynihan said, “it is important we stand up for the Leaving Certificate.”
“Yes, there were significant challenges, particularly in the Leaving Certificate, and there have been significant challenges in recent years because many students did not sit the Junior Certificate because of the way we had to deal with the pandemic.”