Girls have outperformed boys in virtually every major subject at Junior Certificate level and secured significantly more honours in 21 out of 24 higher-level examination subjects.
With the exception of Italian, metalwork and woodwork, girls achieved more honours than their male counterparts and also secured over 2,000 more A grades in the three core subjects of English, Irish and maths.
In all, 13 students obtained 11 A grades at higher level, while 102 achieved 10 A grades and 368 obtained 9 A grades.
However, the failure tallies at ordinary level are of particular concern, with over 17 per cent of boys failing French, 5 per cent failing Irish and over 7 per cent failing maths.
In the core subjects of Irish and English at higher level, the performance gap was particularly wide, with some 9 per cent more girls achieving honours in Irish and 11 per cent more girls securing honours in English.
In arts, girls secured almost twice the number of A grades than boys, while home economics was one of the most notable examples of the continuing gender gap between boys and girls. Compared to 14 per cent of girls who achieved an A grade, only 5 per cent of boys managed the same.
However, boys narrowly managed to supersede the girls' number of A level grades at higher-level maths by some 0.2 per cent. Boys also achieved over 11 per cent more A grades in Italian and 3 per cent more A grades in materials technology.
Following the publication of the Junior Cert results yesterday, Fine Gael's education spokeswoman, Olwyn Enright, said she remained concerned at the number of students who are not choosing science as a subject. She said that compared to the UK, where all students are required to study science to GCSE level, there remains no clear requirement for post-primary students in Ireland to study science.
"Figures released by the Department of Education and Science show that more than one in 10 Junior Certificate students do not study science. Without a grounding in science at Junior Certificate level, these students are seriously disadvantaged when it comes to subject choice at Leaving Certificate level, and in later education," she said.
Education spokeswoman for the Labour Party Jan O'Sullivan said the Government must do more to encourage students who did not perform as well as others to remain in education.
"I am concerned at the smug attitude of Minister Mary Hanafin, who is happy to hide behind the high achievers without confronting drop-out rates among those who have struggled through their schooling," she said.