Students will receive their first-round offers from the Central Applications Office (CAO) four days earlier this year, as part of efforts to ensure swift leaving certificate result appeals.
The CAO offers will be released August 15th this year, four days earlier than in previous years. This new schedule will allow the State Examinations Commission to process appeals quicker, with the results of appealed exams now set to be revealed in the week of September 16th.
This comes after legal action taken by Rebecca Carter, a student who a delay entering college after her leaving certificate marks were totted up wrong. Carter successfully challenged this and allowed her to take her place on her course in University College Dublin (UCD). The High Court in this case found that the marking and appeals was “manifestly unfit for purpose” and a swift reform of the schedule was ordered.
Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor welcomed the news in a press statement, saying: “Students who appeal their leaving certificate results and are subsequently offered a place in higher education will now be in a position to start their course without undue delay.”
“The higher education institutions and the CAO have worked closely with their colleagues in the State Examinations Commission to deliver these changes and the partnership approach to improving student experience must be welcomed”, she said.
In a press statement, Minister for Education Joe McHugh said that all the institutions involved in implementing these changes “deserve huge credit”.
He stated: “The accelerated timeline is a significant step in improving the Leaving Certificate appeals and college entry process for the benefit of students. We are helping to put the best interests and wellbeing of students first.”
“We have learnt from past experiences and I hope faster offers and appeals will help to ease one layer of anxiety around progressing to third level”, McHugh said.
It was recently reported that McHugh is to appeal the verdict of the Rebecca Carter case, after the court found that there is a right of reasonable access to “available higher education and vocational training”, flowing from the constitutionally protected right to earn a livelihood.
Documents relating to the appeal state that this decision has “broad implications and will most likely result in others initiating proceedings in reliance on those findings”. The Department of Education is requesting “legal clarity” on the judgement in advance of the 2019 exam period and third-level place allocations.
A spokesperson on behalf of McHugh told the Irish Times: “The department and the [State Examinations Commission] believe that the judgement contained findings in relation to a Constitutional right of access to higher education which did not previously exist and is not correct in law.”
