CELEBRATIONS:THOUSANDS OF Leaving Certificate students celebrated their results last night at specially organised events in nightclubs throughout the country.
In Dublin, a "Lock and Key"party was in full swing by 10pm at Carnival club on Harcourt Street. The party, which was advertised on bebo.com, had sold over 580 tickets by yesterday afternoon.
Club manager Dave McVitty said the club was operating a strictly over 18 policy, with only passports and the Garda national ID card being accepted at the door.
He added that students were searched for alcohol before entering, and anyone who had consumed too much alcohol was turned away.
Rebecca Ffrench-O'Carroll was at the event with her friends from Loreto School on St Stephens Green in Dublin. "I got 590 points so I'm really happy," she said. Her fellow Loreto student Shiela Gough, who got 555 points, was also thrilled to be out celebrating.
Also at the event was Michael Condon, who had travelled up from Kilkenny. A student at Clongowes Wood College in Kildare, he said "I got 600 points, so I'm now having great fun, but taking it easy".
Students began queuing for the Club XXI Leaving Cert results party on DOlier Street over an hour before the club opened at 9pm. Sarah Fox and Selena Scully from Ashbourne Community School in Meath were first in the queue at 8.15pm. The students said they were ecstatic and relieved to have finished the exams and were looking forward to celebrating the night.
Also among the revellers at Club XXI were Ryan Lacerna from the Philippines and Victor Olabanji from Nigeria, both students at CBS Lucan. They said it was "a great feeling to be able to celebrate" their results, which had been good all round.
In Galway, hundreds of leaving cert students were entertained by stilt walkers, jugglers and fire performers in Tuams Source Nightclub.
In Wicklow, leaving cert students partied the night away in Brays Liquid nightclub to guest DJ former Big Brother contestant Ray Shah.