Around Dunkineely, 100% of schools get DEIS support, more than around Co. Donegal’s towns or Irish towns
The DEIS programme includes 100% of the schools around Dunkineely, above both Co. Donegal’s towns (38%) and Irish towns (35%). DEIS, the extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas, reaches 3 of its 3 schools; across Ireland, 30%. 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 Dunkineely’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: S.N. Dun Ceannfhaolaidh (82), Bruckless N.S. (18) and Killaghtee N.S. (12). Who runs them ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Where the 3 schools in and around Dunkineely 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 Dunkineely’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 Dunkineely’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
2 of Dunkineely’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Raphoe (2) and Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COI (1). 3 of the 3 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 3 schools in and around Dunkineely
Here are the schools in Dunkineely or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. There are no letters or results on these cards, because Ireland publishes none school by school.
Teaching through Irish in and around Dunkineely
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 3 schools in and around Dunkineely teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Dunkineely’s schools serve
Shares of the pupils at the area’s schools, beside Co. Donegal’s and Ireland’s, 2025/26
Each bar is the area’s share; the tick marks Ireland’s.
| Share of pupils | Around Dunkineely | Co. Donegal | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 100% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 10% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 49% | 49% |
More of the pupils around Dunkineely are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 100% against 27% (Co. Donegal: 62%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%. The biggest school in DEIS is S.N. Dun Ceannfhaolaidh (82 pupils).
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Dun CeannfhaolaidhPrimary | 82 | 49% | ✓ | |
| Killaghtee N.S.Primary | 12 | 42% | ✓ | |
| Bruckless N.S.Primary | 18 | 61% | ✓ |
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 2 patrons of Dunkineely’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
The schools around Dunkineely answer to 2 patrons, and Bishop of Raphoe leads with 2 of the 3 schools and 89% of their pupils.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of RaphoeS.N. Dun Ceannfhaolaidh, Bruckless | Catholic | 2 | 100 |
| Bishop of Derry & Raphoe COIKillaghtee | Church of Ireland | 1 | 12 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Dunkineely
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.
Inspection reports for Dunkineely’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, none rated
Reports come from whole-school evaluations (teaching, learning, leadership and management), subject inspections and follow-through visits that check earlier advice; gov.ie publishes each one with the school’s response.
Reports say what inspectors found and what should improve, without an overall grade, so none appears here; each of the 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| S.N. Dun CeannfhaolaidhPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Killaghtee N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Bruckless 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 Dunkineely
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Dunkineely is St. Catherine's Vocational School, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Catherine's Vocational SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 359 | 5.5 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Dunkineely beside the 297 other Irish towns of 200 to 500 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stradbally | 500 | 2 | 134 | 0 | 0% | 8.7 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 |
| Newcastle | 351 | 1 | 111 | 0 | 0% | 11 km |
| Ballintogher | 351 | 2 | 129 | 0 | 0% | 5.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Lahardane | 200 | 1 | 76 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
Among the 297 other towns, 193 have more pupils at their schools than Dunkineely does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 23 of the 298.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Dunkineely
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 Dunkineely had 162 pupils in 2015/16 and 112 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Dunkineely
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 Dunkineely
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunkineely | 3 | 112 | 0 | 100% | 5.5 km |
| Killybegs 5.9 km | 5 | 697 | 0 | 80% | 0.5 km |
| Donegal 16 km | 6 | 1,791 | 1 | 0% | 0.7 km |
| Ballyshannon 17 km | 6 | 1,236 | 1 | 83% | 0.6 km |
| Bundoran 18 km | 3 | 898 | 0 | 33% | 0.2 km |
Donegal has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. The roll around Dunkineely moved −11% since 2019/20; nearby, Donegal grew most (+10%) and Killybegs least (+1%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Dunkineely 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 Dunkineely
How many schools are there in Dunkineely?
In Dunkineely or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools, with 112 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Dunkineely that teach through Irish?
None in Dunkineely or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Dunkineely?
Not in Dunkineely or within 3 km of it; the nearest is St. Catherine's Vocational School, 5.5 km away.
What is the best school in Dunkineely?
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 Dunkineely?
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).