Photo: Alistair Cunningham · CC BY 3.0The schools around Fahan have fewer pupils than in 2019/20: −12%, below Co. Donegal’s towns and Irish towns
Set beside other towns, Fahan comes out below both Co. Donegal’s towns (+7%) and Irish towns (+4%). St Muras N.S. is a primary with 189 pupils. 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.
Where the school in or near Fahan is
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 Fahan’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 Fahan
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 1 schools in and around Fahan teaches every subject through Irish.
Who runs Fahan’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
1 of Fahan’s 1 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. Their patron: Bishop of Derry (1). None of the 1 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.
How children get a place in Fahan
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.
The school in and around Fahan
Here are the schools in Fahan or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
Inspection reports for Fahan’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; the link below opens the school’s own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St Muras 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 Fahan
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
3 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Fahan: 2 ETB schools and one voluntary secondary school. Every one of them takes girls and boys. Just one teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Mhuire Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | DEIS | 885 | 4.9 km |
| Crana CollegeETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 585 | 5.3 km |
| Coláiste EoghainETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | Gaelcholáiste | 13 | 6.4 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Fahan beside the 215 other Irish towns of 400 to 800 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crinkill | 795 | 7 | 1,708 | 1 | 86% | 3.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Ballymurn | 607 | 2 | 207 | 0 | 0% | 6.7 km |
| Saleen | 601 | 2 | 653 | 0 | 0% | 4.6 km |
| Na Dúnaibh | 601 | 2 | 202 | 1 | 100% | 14 km |
| Freshford | 593 | 2 | 244 | 0 | 50% | 10 km |
| Fahan | 589 | 1 | 189 | 0 | 0% | 4.9 km |
| Killala | 587 | 3 | 191 | 0 | 67% | 4.9 km |
| Ballyneety | 586 | 3 | 321 | 0 | 0% | 7 km |
| Lackaghbeg | 576 | 2 | 296 | 0 | 0% | 4.7 km |
| Ringaskiddy-Loughbeg | 575 | 11 | 3,287 | 0 | 18% | 3.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Oilgate | 401 | 2 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 6.2 km |
Of the other 215 towns, 132 have more pupils at the schools around them than Fahan. 18 of the 216 towns have an all-Irish school within 3 km.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Fahan
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 Fahan had 216 pupils in 2015/16 and 189 in 2025/26, fewer than before.
Pupils at schools in and around Fahan
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 Fahan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fahan | 1 | 189 | 0 | 0% | 4.9 km |
| Buncrana 5.8 km | 7 | 2,583 | 2 | 43% | 0.6 km |
| Newtowncunningham 10 km | 2 | 280 | 0 | 50% | 14 km |
| Muff 13 km | 1 | 196 | 0 | 0% | 14 km |
| Ramelton 13 km | 4 | 354 | 0 | 50% | 6.7 km |
| Milford 14 km | 3 | 1,645 | 0 | 67% | 0.5 km |
Buncrana has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 2. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Fahan changed by −12%; among its neighbours, Milford’s grew most (+11%) and Newtowncunningham’s least (−11%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Fahan 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 Fahan
How many schools are there in Fahan?
In Fahan or within 3 km of it: 1 primary school, with 189 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Fahan that teach through Irish?
None in Fahan or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Is there a secondary school in Fahan?
Not in Fahan or within 3 km of it; the nearest is Scoil Mhuire Secondary School, 4.9 km away.
What is the best school in Fahan?
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 Fahan?
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).