Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Ballyshannon, 17% of schools teach every subject through Irish, more than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns
That puts Ballyshannon above both Co. Donegal’s towns (7%) and Irish towns (8%). One of its 6 schools teaches every subject through Irish, against 8% of schools across Ireland. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, 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 Ballyshannon’s schools
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: Coláiste Cholmcille (682), Holy Family National School (193), Scoil Naomh Chaitriona (77), Kilbarron N.S. (44) and Gaelscoil Eirne (29). Who runs them ↓
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 Eirne (29). Language ↓
From the Department of Education’s school lists: facts, not judgements of how well a school teaches.
Who runs Ballyshannon’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
3 of Ballyshannon’s 6 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Raphoe (2), Donegal ETB & Bishop of Raphoe & Bishop of Clogher (1) and Bishop of Clogher (1). 5 of the 6 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.
Teaching through Irish in and around Ballyshannon
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
1 of Ballyshannon’s 6 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Eirne.
The 6 schools in and around Ballyshannon
Every school in Ballyshannon or within 3 km of its outline, each linked to its own page. There are no letters or results on these cards, because Ireland publishes none school by school.
Where the 6 schools in and around Ballyshannon 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 Ballyshannon’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 Ballyshannon’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Donegal’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 Ballyshannon | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 83% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 2% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 46% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 83% of the pupils around Ballyshannon, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Donegal: 62%). Of the DEIS schools here, Coláiste Cholmcille is the biggest: 682 pupils.
Each of the 6 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste CholmcillePost-primary · Community school | 682 | 46% | ✓ | |
| Holy Family National SchoolPrimary | 193 | 45% | ✓ | |
| Scoil Naomh ChaitrionaPrimary | 77 | 39% | ✓ | |
| Kilbarron N.S.Primary | 44 | 59% | ✓ | |
| Gaelscoil EirnePrimary | 29 | 62% | ✓ | ✓ |
| S.N. an Br M O CleirighPrimary | 211 | 47% |
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 5 patrons of Ballyshannon’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Bishop of Raphoe is patron of 2 of the 6 schools around Ballyshannon, which teach 23% of their pupils; 5 patrons run them in all. One is an ETB school.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of RaphoeS.N. an Br M O Cleirigh, Scoil Naomh Chaitriona | Catholic | 2 | 288 |
| Donegal ETB & Bishop of Raphoe & Bishop of ClogherColáiste Cholmcille | Inter-denominational | 1 | 682 |
| Bishop of ClogherHoly Family | Catholic | 1 | 193 |
| Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COIKilbarron | Church of Ireland | 1 | 44 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Eirne | Inter-denominational | 1 | 29 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Ballyshannon
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 6 schools, 4 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 Ballyshannon’s schools
Reports from the Department of Education’s Inspectorate, every school’s linked and none rated
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 6 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Coláiste CholmcillePost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Holy Family National SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Naomh ChaitrionaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Kilbarron N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil EirnePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. an Br M O CleirighPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Ballyshannon
Post-primary schools within 10 km of the town; children move at about twelve, and families apply to each school
Within 10 km of Ballyshannon there are 2 post-primary schools: one community school and one ETB school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste CholmcilleCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 682 | 0.6 km |
| Magh Ene CollegeETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 333 | 6.5 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Ballyshannon
No special school is in or near Ballyshannon. 1 of the 5 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.
Ballyshannon beside the 96 other Irish towns of 1,600 to 3,000 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailieborough | 2,974 | 5 | 1,420 | 0 | 20% | 0.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Maigh Cuilinn | 2,279 | 3 | 542 | 1 | 0% | 8.3 km |
| Clogherhead | 2,275 | 2 | 568 | 0 | 0% | 9.1 km |
| Rathdrum | 2,264 | 4 | 1,116 | 0 | 75% | 0.3 km |
| Rosslare Harbour | 2,247 | 3 | 468 | 0 | 67% | 13 km |
| Ballyshannon | 2,246 | 6 | 1,236 | 1 | 83% | 0.6 km |
| Abbeyfeale | 2,206 | 5 | 1,060 | 0 | 40% | 0.7 km |
| Edgeworthstown | 2,199 | 3 | 423 | 0 | 33% | 11 km |
| Newport | 2,183 | 4 | 1,527 | 0 | 25% | 0.4 km |
| Killorglin | 2,163 | 4 | 1,406 | 0 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Castlemartyr | 1,603 | 2 | 314 | 0 | 0% | 8 km |
Of these 96 other towns, 34 count more pupils at their schools than Ballyshannon. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 28 of the 97.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Ballyshannon
Each September’s pupils at every school in or within 3 km of the town, counted where the school stands today.
The schools in and around Ballyshannon had 1,155 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,236 in 2025/26. Holy Family National School grew most: +35% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballyshannon
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 Ballyshannon
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
Since 2019/20 the pupils around Ballyshannon changed by +8%; among its neighbours, Donegal’s grew most (+10%) and Kinlough’s least (+1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballyshannon 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 Ballyshannon
How many schools are there in Ballyshannon?
In Ballyshannon or within 3 km of it: 5 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,236 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballyshannon that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Eirne teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Ballyshannon?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Ballyshannon?
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 Ballyshannon?
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).