Leaving Cert Results: Student driven to succeed by taximan

Ian Fitzhenry can thank an alert taximan and a garda patrol crew. Ian, a student at Sexton Street CBS, almost didn’t sit English Paper 1, on the first day of the Leaving Cert, in June, because he misread the bus timetable.

The 17-year-old, from Patrickswell, recalled: “The bus stop is only five minutes from our house, at Sycamore Heights. The bus usually came at 8.50am. But I was standing there as the minutes ticked by, not realising there was a new schedule in place. The exam was due to start at 9.30am. In panic, I started to text my brothers and sisters. My brother, Gary, who was coming home from a night shift at Tesco, came to the bus stop and gave me money to get a taxi.

“We rang for a taxi and one arrived within five minutes. As the taxi got closer to Raheen, the traffic was getting heavier and I was really geting worried that I might not get to the exam on time.