The Labour Party has called for a review of the Leaving Cert marking system as 60,000 students across the State received their results today.
The party's Education and Science spokeswoman, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, said there was a "worringly high failure rate" in maths and science subjects, which should be treated by the Minister for Education as a matter of urgency.
She also expressed concern that some students opt for what they consider to be subjects that are less harshly marked than others. She said students must be reassured that their exams will be marked fairly regardless of what sujects they choose.
She said that although the newly established State Examinations Commission had had "a good outing", Mr Dempsey should ask the Commission to conduct an assessment of the marking system across all subjects to ensure equity and fairness.
Meanwhile the Union of Students in Ireland has warned that unless more mature students and students from other backgrounds, colleges will struggle to fill places by 2015.
USI president, Mr Will Priestly said falling number of traditional leaving cert students could mean that the points system could be obsolete within 10 years.
The union has predicted a drop in Leaving Cert student from almost 60,000 this year to around 44,000 by 2015.
Mr Priestly said there was concern that some institutions may use the falling numbers of leaving cert students as an excuse to charge foreign students exorbitant prices to attend Irish colleges. He called on Mr Dempsey to work with colleges to address the high number of complaints from international students over the cost of attending college in the State.