Minister for Education Mary Coughlan has congratulated the 56,000 teenagers who are receiving their Junior Certificate exam results today.
The Tánaiste said it was a proud day for parents, teachers and students, whom she called on to celebrate sensibly with family and friends.
Twins Claire and Libby Doyle (16) both picked up their results at Larkin Community College on Dublin's Cathal Brugha Street this morning.
"I got seven honours and two passes," Claire said, adding she was very surprised to have passed maths as she thought she had failed.
Her equally delighted sister said: "I got a B in Irish which I'm very happy with".
Victoria Ciudin, a student at Presentation College in Terenure was also thrilled with her results of eight As and one B. "Science isn't one of my strongest subjects so I was very surprised to get an A in that," she said.
Originally from Moldova, but living in Ireland for the last five years, Ms Ciudin said: "I thought I would be upset with my results so I didn't plan any celebrations for tonight. I'm absolutely delighted though".
Her classmate Kate Hughes got nine As and one B. "I got a B in English but I expected that as I left out a 20 mark section by accident," the student said, adding: "I couldn't stop shaking when I opened my results".
High failure rates in foreign languages were the striking feature of this year’s results, published this morning.
More than 11 per cent of students failed both French and Spanish at ordinary level while some 1,400 students (or 6 per cent) failed French at higher level.
Failure rates were also high in Italian, with 7 per cent of students failing the exam at both higher and ordinary level.
Among the students disappointed with their language results was Mark Nolan, a pupil at Larkin Community College. "I failed Italian. I thought I would have done better in that, but I didn't really know any," he said.
His classmate Tommy Maher said he was also disappointed with his Italian result. "It was my worst result. I got an E," he said.
Clinton Scott (15) said he had done a lot of study for the exams and was very happy with his results. "I won't be doing too much celebrating as I have school tomorrow, but I'll do some. I'm going out for a meal with my girlfriend".
Coming after disappointing results in maths and science in this year’s Leaving Cert, these high failure rates will deepen concerns about academic standards.
The other striking feature of the results are the high failure rates in a range of practical subjects at ordinary level, including metalwork (15 per cent), technical graphics (9 per cent) and technology (9 per cent).
The business exam was marred for many students this year by a series of errors on the paper, including one that made it impossible to reconcile a cash flow.
This year 15 students scored 12 As or more in higher-level subjects, while a further 120 secured 11 As.
Introduced in 1989, the Junior Cert was intended to broaden the educational experience. However, it has become a mirror image of the Leaving Cert. Several Junior Cert subjects are still examined entirely by written exams, including English and maths.