Earlier today, the Higher Education Authourity (HEA) published a report which revealed that there was a sizeable disparity in college attendance rates across the country.

The HEA report shows that 60 per cent of students in counties like Mayo and Leitrim go on to third level education, whereas that figure is closer to 40 per cent in Donegal.

Listen to Senior Lecturer in Sociology at UCC, Niamh Hourigan discussing the figures on Newstalk Breakfast:

The figures vary across the counties and here how it appears when the statistics are mapped out: 

Colour code: 40 - 49 per cent in Red; 50 - 54 per cent in Yellow; 55 - 59 per cent in green; 60+ in Blue

There is also a large disparity within Dublin, with postcodes like Dublin 6 reporting a 99 per cent participation rate, in comparison to other areas such as Dublin 10 and Dublin 17 which have a 16 and 15 per cent attendance rate respectively.

Participation Rate by Dublin postcode (all figures by the HEA)
Dublin 1     23%
Dublin 2     26%
Dublin 3     60%
Dublin 4     84%
Dublin 5     47%
Dublin 6     99%
Dublin 6w   82%
Dublin 7     41%
Dublin 8     28%
Dublin 9     55%
Dublin 10   16%
Dublin 11   28%
Dublin 12   37%
Dublin 13   36%
Dublin 14   76%
Dublin 15   47%
Dublin 16   79%
Dublin 17   15%
Dublin 18   58%
Dublin 20   32%
Dublin 22   26%
Dublin 24   29%

Dublin County 53%
Dublin Total    47%

Catch up on today's items from Newstalk Breakfast via the podcast: