Girls are now outperforming boys in virtually every Leaving Cert subject at honours level, including maths and science, writes Seán Flynn, Education Editor.
The bleak picture for boys is compounded at ordinary level, where more males than females failed this year.
Among educationalists, the "laddish" culture, which has made study "uncool" for teenage boys, is widely blamed for the trend.
Last night the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, expressed concern about the new figures.
The gender gap, he said, underlined the case for reform of the Leaving Cert examination.
He told The Irish Times a revised exam offering different types of assessment and less focus on one terminal exam could help to address the problem. The latest figures, based on this year's Leaving Cert results, confirm a trend right across the education sector where girls are doing better than boys.
The most recent census figures show that some 75 per cent of girls are in full-time education at 18, as against 60 per cent of boys.
Boys failed to outperform girls in any of the most popular subjects at higher level this year. The honours rates worked out as follows:
Irish: 85 per cent of girls secured an honour compared to 80 per cent of boys.
Maths: 79 per cent of girls gained honours, compared to 75 per cent of boys.
English: 80 per cent of girls secured honours, compared to 74 per cent of boys.
Overall, boys outperformed girls in just three of the 21 main Leaving Cert subjects.
These were applied maths, technical drawing and construction studies.
The percentage of girls securing honours in home economics (76 per cent) was 16 per cent higher than the male figure.
Failure rates for boys at ordinary level were higher than for girls. But here the gender gap was less marked.
The failure rate for boys was highest in 11 of the main 20 subjects.
The most striking figure was in biology where at ordinary level one in five boys failed.
Some 12 per cent of boys failed ordinary-level maths, marginally higher than the figure for girls.