More than 65,500 students will take this year's Leaving Certificate exam, and more than 67,000 the Junior Certificate, both of which begin next Wednesday.
The numbers are slightly down on last year's entry of nearly 65,900 for the Leaving and 68,900 for the Junior Cert, reflecting the beginning of a fall in student numbers caused by a declining birth rate after the "baby boom" at the beginning of the 1980s.
There will be more than a million papers in this year's examinations at a cost of £16.1 million. £5.2 million in exam fees will be collected.
For the second year running, the Leaving Certificate will also be taken abroad. Last year 23 students sat it in Libya; this year 20 in Libya are joined by 11 in Malaysia.
The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, has said there is "absolutely no question" of students found cheating in the examinations being sent to jail or paying hefty fines, as reported inaccurately in some parts of the media.
Mr Martin said cheating during an exam was a very serious act of misconduct and would be dealt with by penalties such as forfeiture of the result of the entire examination. But there was nothing in the new Education Bill which would criminalise students for cheating in the course of an examination as reported. Meanwhile, one of the biggest building sites in the country has been ordered by the High Court to be quiet during the exams. St Andrew's College, Booterstown Avenue, Dublin, had sought to restrain O'Malley Construction Co Ltd, St Augustine Street, Galway, and Shannon Homes, North Circular Road, Dublin, from causing any noise distractions from Wednesday next until June 26th when the exams finish.
But Mr Chris Mullane, counsel for the college, told Mr Justice John Quirke yesterday that the parties had agreed to a pact of silence during specific hours.
From the time examination papers are passed out until they are collected again the workmen will curb noise levels. This will allow the builders to work as normal during non-exam hours.
Mr Eanna Molloy, counsel for the Minister for Education, said Mr Martin was concerned that the integrity of the examination system would not be impeached by any controversy over noise levels.
Mr Justice Quirke said he would make the terms of the agreement a rule of court and reserved the question of costs.