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The Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton TD, and the Minister of State for Training and Skills, John Halligan TD, today (Wednesday) send their best wishes to students beginning the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations.

Minister Bruton commended the efforts of students, saying: “I send every best wish to all students who are sitting Junior and Leaving Certificate exams from today. There is great value in everything that students have achieved in the classroom and in their exam preparations, and I hope that they are successful in demonstrating that over the coming weeks.”

The Minister also paid tribute to the dedication of principals and teachers who have prepared and guided the students during their learning cycle.

The Minister went on to say that “While recognising that these exams are important, I hope that students remember that there are many opportunities open to them following on from the Leaving Certificate. As well as routes to further and higher education there are alternative pathways to rewarding careers. For example, work continues on developing high quality apprenticeships in a number of sectors and the Programme for Government commits to double the number of apprenticeships by 2020. These apprenticeships offer an alternative pathway to a career in expanding areas of the economy.”

Minister Halligan acknowledged the important role of families and friends, saying: “To the families and friends who have supported students to get to this day I would like to say thank you. This can be a stressful time and your continued support is so important over the next few weeks.”

The Ministers also acknowledged the role of the State Exams Commission (SEC) which is responsible for the significant logistical operation of the State exams, involving over 120,000 students, more than 4 million exam papers and over 5 thousand exam centres.

Notes for Editors:

56,595 students are entered to sit the Leaving Certificate, including the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.

2,811 students are entered to do the Leaving Certificate Applied.

60,652 students are entered to sit the Junior Certificate.

The examinations commence on Wednesday 8th June and will continue until Thursday 23rd June for Junior Certificate and Friday 24th June for Leaving Certificate.

The results of the Leaving Certificate will be issued on Wednesday 17th August and will be available on line from 12 noon that day. Junior Certificate results will be issued in mid-September.

The examinations are overseen by the State Examinations Commission. More information is available at www.examinations.ie