The National Parents' Council has advised students worried about today's CAO offers to contact a special helpline set up to offer guidance.

Niall Murray Education Correspondent

There are opportunities for every Leaving Certificate student even if they did not achieve the grades they hoped for, education officials said tonight.

THE points needed for many college places could be down slightly on last year as this year’s Leaving Certificate figures show a drop in the number of students scoring top grades.

PARENTS have welcomed a €25 million Government investment that will ensure all children travelling on school buses will be belted into their own seats by the end of next year.

Mary Dundon, Political Reporter

THE State Examinations Commission reprinted 45,000 Leaving Certificate English papers because pictures on the original exam might have caused upset after the Navan school bus crash, it emerged last night.

THE State Examinations Commission yesterday defended the inclusion of an essay question about school buses in yesterday's Junior Certificate English exam.

The Examinations Commission has defended the inclusion of a "school bus" question in this morning’s Ordinary Level Junior Cert paper, while a parents’ group has labeled the question "appalling".

ONE could almost have sympathy for Education Minister Mary Hanafin when, with a helpless shrug, she pleaded that it was not possible to have every school bus fitted with seat belts by September.

A PARENTS’ leader has rejected Education Minister Mary Hanafin’s claim that seat belts cannot be fitted on all school buses before September, saying that money was the only thing stopping their installation.

There is absolutely no reason why the Government should have to wait for the reports of the three investigations into Monday’s tragic school bus crash before deciding on any new investment in the fleet, as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern asserted yesterday.

The National Parents Council has urged parents not to allow their children to travel on school buses unless they are fitted with seatbelts.

Fitting seatbelts on all school buses by September is impossible, Education Minister Mary Hanafin said today.

PARENTS have called for the immediate fitting of seat belts in all school buses to help prevent a repeat of Monday’s tragic events.

THE National Parents Council has called for a boycott at the start of the new school year of all school buses where children are forced to sit three to a two-person seat or where seat belts are not fitted.

THE National Parents Council has welcomed a ban by a fast food chain on employing Leaving Certificate students during the school week.

The National Parents' Council has called for a more in-depth and rational debate on the issue of pornography and censorship in Ireland.

TEACHER and parent organisations have criticised the latest school league tables which have highlighted how students from fee-paying schools dominated new entrants to universities last autumn.

MOST students who have applied for college places will be able to find out if they have been offered one of their preferred courses on Monday.

THE LEAVING Cert should be renamed the Senior Cert to more accurately reflect its role for young people, Education Minister Noel Dempsey said yesterday.

STUDENTS anxiously awaiting results of their Leaving Certificate next week have been advised not to worry too much in the days ahead and consider their options carefully when they arrive.

THE timetable for the Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate exams should be extended to ease pressure on students, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) said last night.

4.6 million Easter eggs are expected to be eaten today.

OFF-LICENCE owners should be forced to restrict the sale of certain types of drink to combat excessive drinking by young people, a parents’ group said yesterday.

A PRIMARY SCHOOL principal has banned a popular playground game called ‘IRA’ after a boy accidently fractured his arm.

PARENTS and guidance counsellors have urged students not to panic if they do not get their first choice college course tomorrow.

PARENTS have called for a review of the Leaving Certificate marking system, because of wide differences between results at higher level and ordinary level.