Fee-paying schools continue to dominate the league tables, according to The Sunday Times.
The newspaper's Parent Power Survey has named Glenstal Abbey in Co. Limerick as the best secondary school in the country.
More than 95% of pupils at the boys' boarding school in Murroe have gained university places over the past three years.
It has knocked Gonzaga College in Dublin, another fee-paying boys school, off the top spot to second place, ahead of the non fee-paying and all-girls school Colaiste Iosagain in Booterstown, Dublin.