Over 73,000 students receive Junior Cycle results

Ottoline Spearman

A total of 73,336 students received their Junior Cycle results on Wednesday.

This is the third year in a row that the number of candidates taking the Junior Cycle examinations (or any of its predecessors - the Junior Certificate or Intermediate Certificate) has exceeded 70,000.

Some 646,602 grades in 21 individual subjects have been released.

Revised Junior Cycle grade bands have been introduced this year following the announcement by the Minister for Education and Youth in April 2025.

Those who score 85 or higher will now receive a distinction, with those scoring 70 to 85 receiving a higher merit.

However, there are the same number of grade bands as before, with the top four grade descriptors (distinction, higher merit, merit, and achieved) evenly distributed in bands of 15 percentage points.

As a result of these changes, the rate of the distinction grade between 2024 and 2025 has more than doubled from 3.6 per cent to 8.6 per cent.

The rate of higher Merits has increased by just over 5 percentage points to 30.4 per cent of all grades awarded this year.

In consequence of the narrowing of the merit band and the displacement of candidates into the higher merit band, the rate of merits awarded has reduced by almost 11 percentage points from 44.5 per cent to 33.7 per cent.

Speaking on Newstalk, the Waterpark College in Waterford City said they are glad the wait is over: "We were all very worried, but it's good to have them back now. I think we're feeling a lot better."

Also on Newstalk, General Secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, Michael Gillespie, said it is important students' hard work is recognised: "We have to welcome the widening of the bans to 15 per cent, which the TUI had advocated for a number of years.

"In fairness, the Minister brought in for this year, which is already showing that we're going to have an increase to 8 per cent of the people who get merits and a corresponding 5 per cent increase in the number of people getting higher merits.

"That's going to be good for students because it's going to build confidence and give them a well-deserved sense of achievement."

The decision to make the change followed careful consideration by the Department of Education and Youth in conjunction with the SEC and the NCCA, taking on board feedback about the impact that the previous grade bands may have been having on the teaching and learning experience.

This feedback came from many stakeholders, including teachers and school leaders, as well as candidates taking examinations, their parents and guardians.