Prior to the enhancement of Leaving Cert grades which became embedded in the system from 2020 onwards the numbers of students securing 625 points were between 250-300. Post-Covid they have been about 1,250.
Similarly with those securing 600 points plus. Pre-Covid they would have traditionally numbered about 1,250. Post-Covid they have grown to about 3,500.
The enhancement process has been unfair in many ways to the really high-achieving students who secured their five or six H1s from the initial marking process. They could not be enhanced as they were already on maximum marks.
They were joined prior to the allocation of CAO places by those who secured the H2s in the original marking process who, following enhancement, were adjusted upwards to H1 grades.
RM Block
With more than 3,000 students bunched up at the 600-plus points level, it was not unusual over the past few years to find a handful of courses – dentistry in Trinity and UCC, and economics and finance in UCD, for example – where there were more applicants on 625 CAO points than there were places available.
When that happens a raffle effectively takes place among the students on the 625 points for offers of the available places. It is called random selection. There is no differentiation in the raffle among those who had 625 prior to enhancement from those who secured it following enhancement.
In 2024, 65 students on 625 CAO points sought a place in economics and finance in UCD. Fifty places were offered in round one and those unfortunate not to receive an offering that round were offered a place in round two the following week.
The dental school applicants on 625 who missed out on round one in 2024 were not so fortunate, and in some cases are holding deferred places for entry in the current year. This would have led to the same problem repeating itself in 2025, if it were not for the fact that a new dental school has been opened by the RCSI in Sandyford in Dublin, with an additional 20 places on offer in 2025. More than 1,000 applicants have applied for these 20 places.
It will be interesting today to see how the reduction of the average enhancement process from 7.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent of the 50,000 current Leaving Cert students will reflect itself in the numbers securing more than 600 CAO points today.
The fact that 12,000-15,000 CAO applicants who sat the Leaving Cert from 2020 onwards will be competing for places next Wednesday, all of whom will retain their 7.5 per cent enhanced grades will diminish the effect of the reduction of the numbers over 600 points in this year’s competition.
What about students who took exams other than the Irish Leaving Cert?
Those who will be less happy with the Minister’s decision to continue the enhancement process, even at a reduced level, are CAO applicants from Northern Ireland presenting A-Level awards, or students who sat the international baccalaureate in Ireland and elsewhere, as well as the many thousands of continental European applicants to the CAO who are now seeking places in Irish universities, now that they are treated as international applicants in UK universities since Brexit and must pay fees of £30,000 and upwards.
On which courses are we likely to see CAO points reductions?
One area where points may see a reduction will be where additional places have been created by the Minister for Higher Education James Lawless. Below is a summary of the additional places created in high-demand health and social care courses that will be offered through the CAO in 2025, as well as the approximate total number of places that were available in those disciplines in 2023.
This builds on previous increases in places in these areas. The medicine places are part of the agreement to increase places by 200 between 2022 and 2026.
As of 2025, about 180 of these places will have been delivered. In 2024 there were increases in occupational therapy (40 places), physiotherapy (10 places), pharmacy (10 places) and speech and language therapy (15 places).
These places are those specifically created and supported by additional funding in response to public-sector skills needs, not the totality of additional places that will be available as HEIs increase their intakes organically in response to student demand.
There will also be expansion in nursing courses in Irish institutions, and the Department of Further and Higher Education, are working with the Department of Health and the higher education sector to finalise additional numbers on these courses for September 2025. Munster Technological University has indicated a significant expansion, having already increased their intake last September. In addition, the Department of Further and Higher Education is working closely with colleagues in Northern Ireland to examine continued nursing expansion.
As was announced last year, there are 25 places in medicine in Queen’s University Belfast being funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education and the Department of Health this year. Discussions are ongoing with colleagues in Northern Ireland regarding places in other disciplines, including a focus on nursing and therapies.
In line with programme for government commitments to enhance the diversity of the public-sector workforce, and to create pathways in third-level education outside the CAO, work has been ongoing to create new pathways into regulated professions in the health and social care sector.
Tertiary programmes
Tertiary degrees are a new form of provision in which students begin a course in a further education institution and complete it in the higher education institutions – providing a pathway into higher education outside the CAO.
Thus far tertiary programmes have been developed in nursing, social work, social care and occupational therapy. In 2025 there are 150 places on offer in nursing, 20 in social work, 20 in social care and 20 in occupational therapy.
Applications for most tertiary programmes will remain open until mid-September, although applications for the 2025 occupational therapy intake have closed. Programmes in radiography and dietetics are under development.
Apprenticeships are also being developed in health and social care professions. UCC launched an apprenticeship in social work in 2024. There are currently 46 apprentices on this programme, with plans for a further intake of 97 in 2025.
The Health Service Executive, Tusla and the Probation Service are the employers involved in this apprenticeship. A social care apprenticeship is in the late stages of development, with the first intake planned for 2025, and the cohort size to be determined.
How will CAO applicants know if they have secured an offer?
Applicants will access their offer through viewing their account on the CAO website from 2pm on Wednesday, August 27th. Many applicants will receive two offers from their level-eight and level-six/seven lists. They can accept only one, by 3pm on Tuesday, September 2nd.
