External candidates (anyone who is not a student of a second-level school) include some repeat Leaving Certificate candidates and people who have returned to education. They are generally facilitated at a school which is being used as an exam centre, if there is suitable space and the principal gives consent.

Last year, 4,101 out of the 55,500 who sat the Leaving Cert exams were external candidates, with around 1,400 of them sitting just one subject and a similar number sitting seven subjects. As happens every year, dozens of prisoners sat one or more                   Leaving Cert exams at schools in the country’s prisons.

Application forms and details of conditions for external candidates are available from the state examinations commission, Cornamaddy, Athlone, Co Westmeath, or by calling 0902-6442702 or 01-6442703. (Source: Irish Examiner)