40,000 college places accepted

Almost 40,000 people have accepted college places over the last week, ahead of the next round of offers on Thursday.

When combined with nearly 7,500 places taken up in preliminary offer rounds, the 39,832 people accepting places brings to 46,470 the number of third-level college places now filled, some having taken offers in more than one offer round.

That is almost 1,200 more than at this stage last year but it is unclear yet whether there will also be a slight increase on the 47,000 places that were eventually filled in 2014 through the Central Applications Office (CAO).