Photo: David P Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer single-sex secondaries around Youghal than around Co. Cork’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
That puts Youghal below both Co. Cork’s towns (44%) and Irish towns (39%). Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, with 1,086 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Schools in the town or within 3 km of its outline, Department of Education lists for 2025/26; the Ireland figures cover all schools listed.
What stands out about Youghal’s schools
More all-Irish schools than most places
Families here have more choice of a school that teaches every subject through Irish than in most of Ireland, where 8% of schools do. The school is Gaelscoil Chorain, (261). Language ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around Youghal
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
1 of Youghal’s 5 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Chorain,.
The 5 schools in and around Youghal
Here are the schools in Youghal or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
Where the 5 schools in and around Youghal 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 Youghal’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 Youghal’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Cork’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 Youghal | Co. Cork | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 9% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 13% | 8% | 6% |
| Girls | 48% | 49% | 49% |
Fewer of the pupils around Youghal are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 9% against 27% (Co. Cork: 18%). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 13% against 6%. The largest DEIS school here is South Abbey N.S., with 190 pupils.
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pobalscoil na TríonóidePost-primary · Community school | 1,086 | 48% | ||
| Bun Scoil MuirePrimary | 487 | 51% | ||
| Gaelscoil Chorain,Primary | 261 | 50% | ✓ | |
| South Abbey N.S.Primary | 190 | 41% | ✓ | |
| S.N. Naomh ParthalanPrimary | 53 | 42% |
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.
Who runs Youghal’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Youghal’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Cloyne (2), Cork ETB & Congregation of Christian Brothers (1) and Bishop of Cork, Cloyne & Ross COI (1). 1 of the 5 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 patrons of Youghal’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
4 patrons run the 5 schools around Youghal; the largest, Bishop of Cloyne, has 2 of them and 36% of the pupils. The local Education and Training Board runs one.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of CloyneBun Scoil Muire, Gaelscoil Chorain, | Catholic | 2 | 748 |
| Cork ETB & Congregation of Christian BrothersPobalscoil na Tríonóide | Inter-denominational | 1 | 1,086 |
| Bishop of Cork, Cloyne & Ross COISouth Abbey | Church of Ireland | 1 | 190 |
| Bishop of Waterford & LismoreS.N. Naomh Parthalan | Catholic | 1 | 53 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Youghal
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
2 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 3 have shrunk by as much, out of 5; across Ireland: +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 Youghal’s schools
The Inspectorate’s published reports for each school, linked, without ratings
The Inspectorate inspects schools in several ways: a whole-school evaluation covers teaching, learning and how the school is led; a subject inspection looks at one subject; a follow-through checks on earlier advice. Reports go on gov.ie with the school’s reply.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 5 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Pobalscoil na TríonóidePost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Bun Scoil MuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil Chorain,Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| South Abbey N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Naomh ParthalanPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Youghal
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Youghal is Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pobalscoil na TríonóideCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | Irish stream | 1,086 | 1.3 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Youghal
No special school is in or near Youghal. 2 of the 4 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.
Youghal beside the 86 other Irish towns of 6,000 to 11,600 people
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km, listed by population: Ireland publishes no results, so none is ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorey | 11,517 | 8 | 4,875 | 1 | 13% | 0.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballyvolane | 8,707 | 60 | 16,728 | 8 | 45% | 1.9 km |
| Kilcock | 8,674 | 4 | 2,202 | 1 | 0% | 0.6 km |
| New Ross | 8,610 | 10 | 3,266 | 0 | 60% | 0.6 km |
| Hollyhill and Ballincolly | 8,606 | 84 | 27,337 | 7 | 43% | 1.1 km |
| Youghal | 8,564 | 5 | 2,077 | 1 | 20% | 1.3 km |
| Booterstown | 8,505 | 73 | 27,367 | 8 | 7% | 0.2 km |
| Grand Canal Dock | 8,320 | 121 | 32,703 | 6 | 43% | 0.7 km |
| Cherry Orchard | 8,280 | 78 | 26,412 | 4 | 54% | 1.2 km |
| Dalkey | 8,275 | 43 | 12,331 | 1 | 28% | 0.9 km |
| … | ||||||
| Passage West-Monkstown | 6,051 | 16 | 4,438 | 0 | 6% | 0.1 km |
Of the other 86 towns, 85 have more pupils at the schools around them than Youghal. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 82 of the 87.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Youghal
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Youghal had 1,869 pupils in 2015/16 and 2,077 in 2025/26. South Abbey N.S. grew most: +46% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Youghal
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 Youghal
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Youghal | 5 | 2,077 | 1 | 20% | 1.3 km |
| Castlemartyr 14 km | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
| Tallow 19 km | 2 | 184 | 0 | 50% | 6.3 km |
Since 2019/20 the pupils around Youghal changed by +3%; among its neighbours, Tallow’s grew most (−10%) and Castlemartyr’s least (−18%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Youghal 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 Youghal
How many schools are there in Youghal?
In Youghal or within 3 km of it: 4 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 2,077 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Youghal that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Chorain, teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Youghal?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Youghal?
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 Youghal?
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).