The Government has been accused of failing to address the problem of continuing high failure rates in maths and science subjects this year.
Labour Party Spokesperson on Education and Science Jan O'Sullivan congratulated all those who received their results today but warned that unless new proposals are introduced to address declining standards in Maths and Science, the high rates of failure in these subjects will continue.
"If maths and science are continued to be viewed as difficult subjects, then fewer and fewer students will pursue these subjects at leaving certificate level. The knock-on effect for the economy, especially the IT and technology sectors, will be significant," she said.
Fine Gael spokesperson on Education and Science Olwyn Enright also expressed concern about the trend and claimed that it was a situation the Government had "failed to tackle".
Deputy Enright also pointed to rising failure rates at higher level physics, chemistry and biology.
"It is all very well for Minister Hanafin to urge students to choose courses in science and technology at third level, but the Government has failed to take any action to address the downward trend in these subjects, both in terms of the results and the option for choosing it for third level.
"We must also wonder, as reported recently, why at this very late stage, it will take a report from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to make this Minister and her Government sit up and recognise that a full review of the Maths curriculum is now urgently needed."
She said that without adequate maths and science graduates Ireland's competitiveness would quickly be undermined by operational and recruitment difficulties.