Around 500 Leaving Cert students have had their Irish oral examinations postponed at the last minute due to examiners being unable to attend.
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) said "deferring these exams at short notice is a necessary step due to the high rates of Covid-19 in society".
Seven different schools across the country are affected. The students received notification last night that exams due to take place this weekend could not go ahead due to the unavailability of an examiner.
They have been rescheduled to take place during the 'late oral' exams contingency period commencing 4 May. In a statement, the SEC said it has "advised seven schools that some Irish oral examinations scheduled to take place from this weekend must be postponed, as the examiners appointed to examination centres in those schools are unable to attend. "Approximately 500 students are impacted from the total of 52,000 examinations to be held in this subject." In correspondence with candidates, the SEC noted that Covid-19 has had a "significant impact" on its ability to recruit and retain examiners.