Photo: Chris · CC BY-SA 2.0Most post-primaries around Carrick-On-Shannon take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Irish towns
That puts Carrick-On-Shannon below Irish towns (39%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, Community School, has 686 pupils. With no school results published in Ireland, and the Education Act 1998 restricting comparisons of them, these schools are described, not graded or ranked.
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 Carrick-On-Shannon’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 Liatroma (203). Language ↓
Facts from the Department of Education’s lists; nothing here judges how well a school teaches.
Teaching through Irish in and around Carrick-On-Shannon
How many schools teach through each language; the tick marks Ireland’s share.
1 of Carrick-On-Shannon’s 5 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil Liatroma.
The 5 schools in and around Carrick-On-Shannon
Here are the schools in Carrick-On-Shannon 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 Carrick-On-Shannon 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 Carrick-On-Shannon’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 Carrick-On-Shannon’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Leitrim’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 Carrick-On-Shannon | Co. Leitrim | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 18% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 13% | 4% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
Fewer of the pupils around Carrick-On-Shannon are at DEIS schools than across Ireland: 0% against 27% (Co. Leitrim: 18%). Set beside Ireland, pupils at all-Irish schools stand out most: 13% against 6%.
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | 686 | 49% | ||
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | 442 | 50% | ||
| Gaelscoil LiatromaPrimary | 203 | 52% | ✓ | |
| Leitrim Mxd N.S.Primary | 220 | 47% | ||
| S.N. Michil NaofaPrimary | 24 | 58% |
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 Carrick-On-Shannon’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
4 of Carrick-On-Shannon’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Ardagh & Clonmacnoise (2), Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim ETB & Marist Sisters (1) and An Foras Pátrúnachta (1). None of the 5 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 4 patrons of Carrick-On-Shannon’s schools
The patron owns the school and sets its ethos; a board of management runs it day to day.
Of the 5 schools around Carrick-On-Shannon, 2 have Bishop of Ardagh & Clonmacnoise as patron, teaching 42% of the pupils; 4 patrons in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of Ardagh & ClonmacnoiseScoil Mhuire, Leitrim Mxd | Catholic | 2 | 662 |
| Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim ETB & Marist SistersCommunity School | Inter-denominational | 1 | 686 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil Liatroma | Catholic | 1 | 203 |
| Bishop of ElphinS.N. Michil Naofa | Catholic | 1 | 24 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Carrick-On-Shannon
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 5 schools, 1 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 Carrick-On-Shannon’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 |
|---|---|
| Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil MhuirePrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil LiatromaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Leitrim Mxd N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Michil NaofaPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Carrick-On-Shannon
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 Carrick-On-Shannon is Community School, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 686 | 0.2 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Carrick-On-Shannon
No special school is in or near Carrick-On-Shannon. 1 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.
Carrick-On-Shannon beside the 99 other Irish towns of 3,300 to 6,400 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castleknock | 6,355 | 77 | 27,912 | 3 | 51% | 0.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Chapelizod | 4,862 | 154 | 44,846 | 5 | 58% | 0.7 km |
| Cashel | 4,805 | 6 | 1,837 | 0 | 33% | 0.6 km |
| Tramore | 4,803 | 75 | 22,562 | 7 | 48% | 0.7 km |
| Listowel | 4,794 | 8 | 1,547 | 1 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| Carrick-On-Shannon | 4,743 | 5 | 1,575 | 1 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Birr | 4,726 | 7 | 1,708 | 1 | 86% | 1.4 km |
| Dangan | 4,621 | 30 | 10,789 | 5 | 23% | 1.6 km |
| Bohernabreena | 4,613 | 54 | 19,297 | 5 | 46% | 0.9 km |
| Athenry | 4,603 | 5 | 3,133 | 2 | 0% | 0.4 km |
| … | ||||||
| Tower | 3,300 | 6 | 2,638 | 1 | 17% | 3.2 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 85 of the other 99 towns than around Carrick-On-Shannon. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 77 of the 100.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Carrick-On-Shannon
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 Carrick-On-Shannon had 1,376 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,575 in 2025/26. Gaelscoil Liatroma grew most: +39% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Carrick-On-Shannon
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 Carrick-On-Shannon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrick-On-Shannon | 5 | 1,575 | 1 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Drumshanbo 11 km | 2 | 752 | 0 | 0% | 0.8 km |
| Boyle 14 km | 4 | 1,103 | 0 | 0% | 0.2 km |
| Mohill 15 km | 3 | 788 | 0 | 33% | 0.5 km |
Of Carrick-On-Shannon’s neighbours, Drumshanbo saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+46%) and Mohill the least (+27%); Carrick-On-Shannon itself: +4%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Carrick-On-Shannon 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 Carrick-On-Shannon
How many schools are there in Carrick-On-Shannon?
In Carrick-On-Shannon or within 3 km of it: 4 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,575 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Carrick-On-Shannon that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil Liatroma teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Carrick-On-Shannon?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Carrick-On-Shannon?
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 Carrick-On-Shannon?
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).