Departmental Data

Tuesday, 19 May 2026

Ceisteanna (527)

Barry Heneghan

Ceist:

527. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the estimated second level school retention rate to Leaving Certificate level in each county in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37426/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Education and Youth

The retention figures by county are tabulated below. The year refers to the first year of the entry cohort.

County	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Carlow	85.19	88.39	87.41	88.26	86.64
Cavan	86.9	89.85	89.82	89.76	90.02
Clare	91.34	92.17	90.73	91.2	89.63
Cork	91.19	91.19	90.83	91.11	89.71
Donegal	90.14	90.18	89.54	89.67	89.08
Dublin	88.15	89.56	89.62	88.6	86.98
Galway	88.93	90.88	90.81	90.68	89.34
Kerry	91.16	92.4	91.42	91.25	89.37
Kildare	90.74	91.41	91.68	91.21	91.08
Kilkenny	92.45	92.27	90.43	91.79	89.82
Laois	88.67	88.99	89.07	90.98	91.15
Leitrim	91.89	89.7	90.44	92.89	90.31
Limerick	92.53	92.11	91.77	91.19	88.58
Longford	84.95	85.75	88.34	83.74	86.89
Louth	90.22	91.73	91.74	90.14	91.17
Mayo	91.25	92.53	92.27	93	90.16
Meath	91.75	92.51	92.16	92.36	92.1
Monaghan	88.21	89.02	89.1	88.85	87.2
Offaly	89.5	89.82	89.15	89.39	88.34
Roscommon	92.06	89.72	90.39	89.62	84.78
Sligo	90.57	93.55	91.95	91.24	91.18
Tipperary	91.05	90.79	90.03	90.31	88.79
Waterford	89.78	92.62	91.53	90.97	89.59
Westmeath	88.77	87.89	87.57	88.56	87.25
Wexford	89.06	89.66	89	88.17	88.94
Wicklow	89.95	88.8	88.54	87.4	86.84

The annual retention reports may be found at this link:

www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/collections/retention/.

Tusla is responsible for maintaining a register of all children who are home educated or who attend a school that does not fall under the definition of a ‘recognised school’ as set out in the Education Act 1998.

Tusla has established the Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service (AEARS), which has oversight of the regulation of provision for education in places other than recognised schools. The legal basis for carrying out assessments in places other than recognised schools is under Section 14 of the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000.

Children under the age of 16 who leave a recognised school for an alternative education setting must register with AEARS for inclusion on the Section 14 register. These children are entitled to and can choose to sit the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate examinations.