Schools with higher numbers of disadvantaged students should be prioritised if guidance counselling provision is restored, says the Royal Irish Academy.

Six more games will be free to download as part of the Instant Game Collection (IGC) for PlayStation Plus subscribers in April.

The figures are stark and are about all you need to know if wondering whether or not pursuing a college or university course is worth the effort and time in the long run: there’s a 90% better chance of getting a job with a college qualification than without.

Students and parents should stay calm and remember there are a range of options if Leaving Certificate results next week do not match their expectations, guidance counsellors have advised.

A successful mental health promotion initiative for schools and clubs which was launched in Cork earlier this year is going nationwide.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has admitted the cutback in guidance for second-level students is even worse than counsellors themselves have claimed.

Guidance counsellors say the loss of up to 11 hours per week of one-to-one supports for students due to cutbacks must be addressed following a number of suicides and incidents of self-harm.

The Institute of Guidance Counsellors has called for medical schools to stop using an aptitude test to help select incoming students.

Ireland is likely to have to increase its grain imports in response to crop damage caused by unrelenting rainfall over the past three months, particularly in the south of the country, says Cork-based Teagasc tillage advisor Ciaran Collins.

Schools and guidance counsellors have been busy advising students who collected their Leaving Certificate results on their various options.

The Public Appointments Service has launched a comprehensive review of examination results after almost 1,600 nursing course applicants were sent the wrong entrance test scores.

A report by FIFA’s anti-corruption adviser today criticised past investigations by the governing body, but stopped short of calling for probes into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup to be reopened.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has announced a new body to investigation corruption.

The possible loss of guidance services in schools will increase inequality in Irish education, the body representing guidance counsellors has claimed.

Almost 54,500 people have already entered the race for college places this autumn up to last Friday’s early Central Applications Office (CAO) deadline.

THE personal supports given in schools to second-level students are being weakened by the use of outside staff and services, the head of the country’s guidance counsellors has warned.

SCHOOL leavers claimed two-thirds of college places last autumn despite a sharp rise in mature students and other applicants seeking entry.

STUDENTS may find their opportunities to choose the most suitable college courses are limited because of staffing restrictions in schools, a guidance counsellors’ leader has claimed.

ANOTHER rise in the overall number of applications could see increased competition for school leavers seeking entry to college in the autumn.

THE legal rights of teen-agers to appropriate career and education guidance are being restricted by government cutbacks, the head of the country’s guidance counsellors has said.

THE number of college places made available in the second round of offers from the Central Applications Office (CAO) on Friday looks likely to be less than in previous years.

MORE than two-thirds of applicants for college places will have good news this morning as they have been offered entry to one of their preferred courses.

Full marks in this year's Leaving Certificate went to students in Kerry, Cork and Dublin.

Sexual predators were today warned they could be accused of rape if they target drunk Leaving Cert students.

TOMORROW marks the end of a nervous two-month wait for more than 55,500 Leaving Certificate students.

THE mixed changes in overall results in most Leaving Certificate subjects are likely to have no significant impact on points requirements needed for college, when the first offers are made next week.

THE Great Escape Expo is on today and tomorrow at the RDS in Dublin, and it’s aimed at anyone planning to take time out or move abroad for a longer spell.

GUIDANCE counsellors must be given more time to help young people with career and subject choices if Government targets to meet economic requirements are to be met, a conference heard yesterday.

GROWING levels of mental-health problems associated with drink, drugs and marriage breakdowns are causing teenagers to fall behind or drop out of school, guidance counsellors have warned.

STUDENTS having trouble accessing the Central Applications Office (CAO) website to submit college course choices have been advised to remain patient.

THOUSANDS of Leaving Certificate students have not had an opportunity to consult a guidance counsellor at school, research among callers to a helpline suggests.

THE European Constitution will not be renegotiated if EU member states such as France and the Netherlands reject it, says Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern.

THE list of languages translated in the Justus Lipsius Building in Brussels, where the EU Summit is taking place, has one vacancy at the bottom.

The international grains council trimmed its forecast for next year’s world wheat production, saying it expects unfavourable weather to hurt harvests in the us, the world’s top exporter.

BRUSSELS leaders last night decided at their summit meeting in Brussels they would seek to conclude the EU Constitutional Treaty by the end of the six-month Irish Presidency.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern will soon complete his round of discussions with European leaders as part of the Irish Presidency’s efforts to reach consensus on a new EU Constitution.

EU foreign ministers are to hold informal talks next week on an EU constitution, foreign minister Brian Cowen, said today.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern is expected to hold the first of a series of face-to-face meetings with European leaders to discuss last month’s Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) and the failure to agree on the proposed Constitutional Treaty.

Over the coming six months “Eurospeak” will become an integrated part of Irish news and politics.

THE number of countries threatening to hijack Europe’s new constitution by fighting for more voting clout grew yesterday when EU leaders met in Brussels.

THE European Union was split yesterday over Washington’s draft UN resolution seeking wider international support in Iraq, with Britain welcoming it and France pressing for a clutch of amendments.