Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Belturbet, 50% of schools get DEIS support, more than around Co. Cavan’s towns or Irish towns
Set beside other towns, Belturbet comes out above both Co. Cavan’s towns (20%) and Irish towns (35%). 2 of its 4 schools are in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, against 30% across Ireland. Ireland publishes no school results, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them, so these schools are described here, never graded or ranked.
Every school in the town or within 3 km of its outline, from the Department of Education’s lists for 2025/26; Ireland’s figures are every school in the lists.
What stands out about Belturbet’s schools
More pupils every year
Pupil numbers at the schools here have grown faster than across Ireland (+5% since 2019/20), so classes and new places are a question worth asking. Pupils over time ↓
Extra support for many schools
Many schools here are in DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and help; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. In DEIS: Convent of Mercy N.S. (163) and Fairgreen N.S. (33). Who runs them ↓
One school growing fast
Of the schools here, St Bricin's College has grown fastest, from 184 in 2019/20 to 281. Getting a place ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Pupil numbers around Belturbet
Pupils every September at the schools in or within 3 km of the town, each counted at today’s site.
The schools in and around Belturbet had 514 pupils in 2015/16 and 551 in 2025/26. St Bricin's College grew most: +53% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Belturbet
Department of Education enrolments at 30 September each year, 2015/16 to 2025/26 (preliminary), for every school placed in the area today; schools that have since closed or merged count where they stood.
Who runs Belturbet’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
2 of Belturbet’s 4 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Kilmore (2), Cavan & Monaghan ETB (1) and Bishop of Kilmore Elphin & Ardagh COI (1). 2 of the 4 are in DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas (30% across Ireland).
Department of Education school lists: ethos 2025/26, patron 2024/25 (the 2025/26 lists don’t give it). DEIS list 2025/26.
The 4 schools in and around Belturbet
Each school in or within 3 km of Belturbet links to a page of its own. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Where the 4 schools in and around Belturbet are
Each school where the official list places it, shaded by who runs it and sized by pupils; squares are secondary schools, triangles special schools. The dashed shape is Belturbet’s outline; schools within 3 km of it count.
Places from the Department of Education’s school lists (its own coordinates for all but a handful); map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Teaching through Irish in and around Belturbet
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
None of the 4 schools in and around Belturbet teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Belturbet’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Cavan’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
DEIS by stage: pupils at DEIS schools
| Share of pupils | Around Belturbet | Co. Cavan | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 36% | 25% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 36% of the pupils around Belturbet, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Cavan: 25%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%. The biggest school in DEIS is Convent of Mercy N.S. (163 pupils).
Each of the 4 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Bricin's CollegePost-primary · ETB | 281 | 49% | ||
| Convent of Mercy N.S.Primary | 163 | 72% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Mhuire Boys Senior SchoolPrimary | 74 | 0% | ||
| Fairgreen N.S.Primary | 33 | 36% | ✓ |
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary): enrolments by sex and the DEIS list. Shares are of pupils, not of schools; a county’s are the schools listed with its towns.
The 3 patrons of Belturbet’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Of the 4 schools around Belturbet, 2 have Bishop of Kilmore as patron, teaching 43% of the pupils; 3 patrons in all. The local Education and Training Board runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of KilmoreConvent of Mercy, S.N. Mhuire Boys Senior School | Catholic | 2 | 237 |
| Cavan & Monaghan ETBSt Bricin's College | Multi-denominational | 1 | 281 |
| Bishop of Kilmore Elphin & Ardagh COIFairgreen | Church of Ireland | 1 | 33 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Belturbet
Starting primary school
Children can start primary school once they are four, and must be in school by six. Families apply to each school directly. Every school publishes an admission policy and a yearly admission notice; a school with more applicants than places admits on the criteria in its policy. Since the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, a Catholic or other majority-faith primary school can’t put baptised children first; a school of a minority faith still can, to keep its ethos.
Moving to secondary school
Children move to post-primary school at about twelve, after sixth class. Again, families apply to each school, usually a year or more ahead, and an oversubscribed school admits on its published criteria, often brothers and sisters and its feeder primary schools.
Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018; each school’s admission policy and notice are on its own website.
Which schools are growing
Of these 4 schools, 2 have grown by at least 5% since 2019/20 and 1 have lost as much; Ireland’s pupils changed by +5%.
Department of Education enrolments at 30 September, 2019/20 and 2025/26 (preliminary). No capacity is published, so how full a school is can’t be shown.
Inspection reports for Belturbet’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
Each school is visited by inspectors from time to time, for a whole-school evaluation of teaching, learning and leadership, for one subject, or to follow up earlier advice, and every report is posted on gov.ie with the school’s response.
The reports describe what inspectors saw and what each school should do next. They give no overall grade, so none is shown here; the 4 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Bricin's CollegePost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Convent of Mercy N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Mhuire Boys Senior SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Fairgreen N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Belturbet
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Belturbet is St Bricin's College, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Bricin's CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 281 | 0.2 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Belturbet beside the 122 other Irish towns of 1,100 to 2,200 people
Schools in or within 3 km of each town, by population; none is ranked, as Ireland publishes no results
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edgeworthstown | 2,199 | 3 | 423 | 0 | 33% | 11 km |
| … | ||||||
| Mullagh | 1,651 | 2 | 450 | 0 | 0% | 9.3 km |
| Baile Chláir | 1,632 | 3 | 1,800 | 0 | 33% | 0.8 km |
| Ballybunion | 1,618 | 3 | 586 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
| Lifford | 1,613 | 3 | 303 | 0 | 100% | 8 km |
| Belturbet | 1,610 | 4 | 551 | 0 | 50% | 0.2 km |
| Castlemartyr | 1,603 | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
| Kilbeggan | 1,575 | 2 | 966 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| Killucan-Rathwire | 1,574 | 4 | 698 | 0 | 25% | 0.9 km |
| Caherconlish | 1,569 | 3 | 470 | 0 | 0% | 9.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballinamore | 1,112 | 2 | 573 | 0 | 50% | 1.1 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 75 of the other 122 towns than around Belturbet. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 14 of the 123.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Schools in the towns around Belturbet
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belturbet | 4 | 551 | 0 | 50% | 0.2 km |
| Ballyconnell 9 km | 3 | 292 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Cavan 13 km | 14 | 4,634 | 1 | 29% | 1.2 km |
| Clones 16 km | 3 | 848 | 1 | 100% | 0.5 km |
| Ballinagh 19 km | 2 | 321 | 0 | 100% | 6.8 km |
Cavan has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Belturbet changed by +22%; among its neighbours, Ballyconnell’s grew most (+21%) and Ballinagh’s least (+2%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Belturbet or within 3 km of its outline, as the Department places it: families here use them. Schools further out are on the map of each school’s own page.
- The kinds of school. Primary schools take children from junior infants to sixth class, about ages 4 to 12. Post-primary schools teach the Junior and Leaving Certificate, about ages 12 to 18: voluntary secondary schools (mostly with a religious patron), ETB schools and community colleges run by an Education and Training Board, and community and comprehensive schools. Special schools teach children with particular needs.
- Teaching through Irish. All-Irish: every subject taught through Irish, in the Gaeltacht or, outside it, a Gaelscoil or Gaelcholáiste. Partly in Irish: an Irish stream (some classes entirely through Irish) or some subjects through Irish. Every other school teaches Irish as a subject.
- DEIS. DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) gives schools serving disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and support; the Department decides which schools are in it.
- Ethos and patron. Most Irish schools are owned by a patron, mostly a church; the patron sets the school’s ethos. Multi-denominational schools (Educate Together, many ETB schools) teach children of every faith and none together.
- No grade. Section 53 of the Education Act 1998 lets the Minister refuse to release information that would allow schools’ exam results to be compared, and no results are published school by school. So Ireland’s schools have no letters and its towns no School Grade; nothing on this page ranks them.
- What isn’t here. What the UK and French pages show from results, these can’t: results charts, results against pupils’ backgrounds and towns ranked by their schools (no published results), and how full each school is (no capacity is published). Every post-primary school teaches to the Leaving Certificate, so there is no sixth-form split to show.
- Inspections. The Inspectorate’s reports are linked from each school’s page. They give no overall grade, so none is shown.
- The year. The 2025/26 lists are the Department’s preliminary release; numbers can change a little in the final lists.
Questions about schools in Belturbet
How many schools are there in Belturbet?
In Belturbet or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 551 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Belturbet that teach through Irish?
None in Belturbet or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Belturbet?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Belturbet?
We don’t say. Ireland publishes no exam results school by school, and section 53 of the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them; a ranking would rest on guesses. Each school’s page has its own facts and a link to its inspection reports, and visiting the schools you are weighing is still the best guide.
How do I get a place at a school in Belturbet?
Apply to each school directly: every school publishes an admission policy and a yearly admission notice with its dates. If it has more applicants than places, it admits on the criteria in its policy.
Sources: Department of Education, school lists 2025/26 (preliminary) and enrolments since 2015/16, CC BY 4.0 · one school placed with OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL). Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).