Students who suffer a close bereavement during or in the run up to this year's Leaving Certificate exams will be able to take time out and sit alternative papers in July.
The new provisions have been announced this morning by the Minister for Education following a review into how students are supported in the wake of the death of a close family member.
The review was commissioned after student Rhona Butler described movingly on RTÉ radio earlier this year of the difficulties she faced when she lost her mother during the exams.
The scheme will allow a student to be absent for a three-day period during the exams, and to sit any exams missed during a period in July.
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It will be the first time that any provision of this kind has been made available to students. The measures are being introduced on a pilot basis.
Announcing the changes, Minister Joe McHugh said he had called for the review after hearing Ms Butler's "compelling" interview, and he thanked the last year's Leaving Certificate student for having highlighted the issue.
Last January Ms Butler told RTÉ's The Ryan Tubridy Show how her mother Margaret died on 13 June last year, and of how she had had to get up the next morning to sit her Leaving Certificate exam in Business.
Ms Butler sat three more exams over the coming days, while her mother was buried on the Saturday.
Speaking of how she coped on the day of her Leaving Certificate Business exam, Ms Butler said: "I don't remember anything of that day."
Listen to Rhona Butler's interview on The Ryan Tubridy Show
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Making the announcement today, Mr McHugh said the death of a loved one was a deeply traumatic event for any young person that would only be compounded if it occurred in the midst of exams.
"We have a duty to take reasonable measures to support young people who suffer loss at such an important time for them," he said.
Under the new provisions Leaving and Leaving Certificate Applied candidates who miss some of their examinations as a consequence of the death of a close relative at the time of the examinations will be allowed sit an alternative paper in those subjects in early July.
The scheme allows for a student to be absent from exams for a three-day period, commencing from the death of a close relative up to and including the day of the funeral.
The three days do not need to be consecutive.
The scheme defines a close relative as a parent or step-parent or legal guardian or a sibling or grandparent. It also encompasses the death or a son or daughter or spouse or partner.
The Leaving Certificate exams begin next week.
