Photo: Gordon Hatton · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer of the schools around Unionhall are in DEIS than around Co. Cork’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
Measured that way, Unionhall is below both Co. Cork’s towns (37%) and Irish towns (35%). All 3 of its schools are Catholic: there is no other kind within 3 km. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
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.
Where the 3 schools in and around Unionhall 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 Unionhall’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.
Who runs Unionhall’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Unionhall’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Cork & Ross (3). None of the 3 is 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 3 schools in and around Unionhall
Every school in Unionhall or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Teaching through Irish in and around Unionhall
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 3 schools in and around Unionhall teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Unionhall’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Cork’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Unionhall | Co. Cork | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 8% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 49% | 49% |
0% of the pupils around Unionhall are at a DEIS school, fewer than the 27% across Ireland (18% in Co. Cork). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 0% against 6%.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Hall Mixed N.S.Primary | 67 | 51% | ||
| S.N. Cill Mhic AbhaidhPrimary | 40 | 48% | ||
| S.N. Chuan DoirPrimary | 71 | 46% |
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.
One patron for Unionhall’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Bishop of Cork & Ross is patron of every school around Unionhall.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of Cork & RossS.N. Chuan Doir, Union Hall Mixed, S.N. Cill Mhic Abhaidh | Catholic | 3 | 178 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Unionhall
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
Between 2019/20 and now, 0 of the 3 grew by 5% or more and 1 shrank as much, while Ireland’s pupil numbers moved +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 Unionhall’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
Inspectors visit every kind of school. Whole-school evaluations look at teaching and learning, leadership and management; subject inspections look at one subject; follow-through inspections check whether earlier advice was taken. Each report is published 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 3 schools below each link their own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Union Hall Mixed N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Cill Mhic AbhaidhPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Chuan DoirPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Unionhall
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Within 10 km of Unionhall there are 2 post-primary schools: one community school and one voluntary secondary school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skibbereen Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 956 | 7.7 km |
| Mount St MichaelVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 403 | 8.8 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Unionhall
No special school is in or near Unionhall. 1 of the 3 primary schools have special classes for children who need more support. Their cards ↑
Special schools and primary schools with special classes as the Department lists them; the National Council for Special Education places pupils in special classes.
Unionhall beside the 169 other Irish towns of 300 to 500 people
Towns of a similar size, with the schools in or within 3 km of each; ordered by population, never ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Golden | 362 | 2 | 197 | 0 | 0% | 6.5 km |
| Shrule | 362 | 2 | 112 | 0 | 0% | 6.4 km |
| Kilberry | 361 | 1 | 84 | 0 | 100% | 4.6 km |
| Ballyvaughan | 361 | 1 | 42 | 0 | 0% | 13 km |
| Unionhall | 359 | 3 | 178 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Castlemagner | 354 | 1 | 223 | 0 | 0% | 5.3 km |
| Dunkineely | 352 | 3 | 112 | 0 | 100% | 5.5 km |
| Newbliss | 352 | 1 | 101 | 0 | 0% | 6.3 km |
| Collinstown | 351 | 1 | 166 | 0 | 0% | 6.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Gneevgullia | 300 | 1 | 131 | 0 | 0% | 4.8 km |
Of the other 169 towns, 78 have more pupils at the schools around them than Unionhall. Within 3 km, 16 of these 170 towns have a school teaching through Irish.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Unionhall
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Unionhall had 178 pupils in 2015/16 and 178 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Unionhall
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.
Schools in the towns around Unionhall
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unionhall | 3 | 178 | 0 | 0% | 7.7 km |
| Skibbereen 8.4 km | 5 | 1,562 | 1 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Dunmanway 19 km | 5 | 1,019 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Clonakilty 19 km | 6 | 2,124 | 1 | 0% | 0.5 km |
Skibbereen has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. The roll around Unionhall moved −8% since 2019/20; nearby, Dunmanway grew most (+15%) and Skibbereen least (+6%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Unionhall 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 Unionhall
How many schools are there in Unionhall?
In Unionhall or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools, with 178 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Unionhall that teach through Irish?
None in Unionhall or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Unionhall?
Not in Unionhall or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Skibbereen Community School, 7.7 km away.
What is the best school in Unionhall?
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 Unionhall?
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).