'Don't Panic' Call To Students On Applications Website Attack

Thousands of Leaving Cert students have been told not to panic after a cyber attack on the Central Applications Office (CAO) website this morning.

The website, containing information on third level course acceptances was hit by a suspected cyber attack this morning, causing anxiety for thousands of students checking the first round of course offers.

A message posted on the website said it is unavailable due to maintenance work, but has since returned to normal service. The CAO said external specialists had helped in its attempts to restore the service.

There has been an increased in competition for places this year forcing up the points requirements for many third-level courses. Some 3,000 additional applications were made this year bringing the number to more than 77,500.

The first round of offers for places from the Central Applications Office were available online this morning at www.cao.ie. before the CAO website crash.

Points for science and maths subjects have risen considerably, with University College Dublin's science degree programme rising 50 points to 435, Mathematics at NUI Maynooth up 40 points to 450 and Maths at Trinity up 70 points to 485. Points for science courses at both University College Cork and NUI Galway are also up.

Arts courses across the county have generally remained the same, or are down, although the biggest course in the country, arts in UCD, is up five points to 365.

The CAO have described the attack as "malicious" but urged students not to panic.

Meanwhile, the Labour party have said women's success in education has yet again been confirmed by the Leaving results and that should be followed by equal pay and opportunities for men and women.

Katherine Dunne, the Labour Women's Chair, said a persistent gender pay gap of about 8% exists in Ireland.

"'Female graduates earn less than male graduates. Studies show three years after graduating there is a significant gender pay gap of between 8%-11% (depending if we compare hourly or weekly rates) in the private sector between male and female graduates. In the public sector, this gap does not exist," Ms Dunne said.

She added: "Young women are quite obviously a talented and smart part of the work force. To pay them less is not only wrong, it is plain silly. Women's talent is now needed more than ever and we cannot ignore the female pool of talent."

(DW/GK)