Photo: JohnArmagh · Public domainFewer single-sex secondaries around Abbeyfeale than around Co. Limerick’s towns or Irish towns: 0%
In the comparison, Abbeyfeale comes below both Co. Limerick’s towns (54%) and Irish towns (39%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, Coláiste Íde agus Iosaef, has 669 pupils. Nothing here grades or ranks these schools: Ireland publishes no results school by school, and the Education Act 1998 restricts comparing them.
Counted from the Department of Education’s 2025/26 lists: every school in the town or within 3 km of it, against every school in Ireland.
The 5 schools in and around Abbeyfeale
Each school in or within 3 km of Abbeyfeale links to a page of its own. Ireland publishes no results school by school, so these cards carry no letters or results.
Where the 5 schools in and around Abbeyfeale 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 Abbeyfeale’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 Abbeyfeale
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 5 schools in and around Abbeyfeale teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Abbeyfeale’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Limerick’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 Abbeyfeale | Co. Limerick | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 20% | 25% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 7% | 6% |
| Girls | 51% | 48% | 49% |
Around Abbeyfeale, 20% of pupils attend a school in DEIS; across Ireland it is 27%, and 25% in Co. Limerick. Where this area differs most from Ireland is pupils at all-Irish schools, at 0% against 6%. Convent of Mercy N.S., with 110 pupils, is the largest school here in DEIS.
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Íde agus IosaefPost-primary · ETB | 669 | 49% | ||
| Convent of Mercy N.S.Primary | 110 | 100% | ✓ | |
| Abbeyfeale B N.S. 1Primary | 98 | 0% | ✓ | |
| Dromtrasna N.S.Primary | 122 | 54% | ||
| S.N. Naomh PadraigPrimary | 61 | 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.
Who runs Abbeyfeale’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
4 of Abbeyfeale’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Limerick (4) and Limerick & Clare ETB (1). 2 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 2 patrons of Abbeyfeale’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Bishop of Limerick is patron of 4 of the 5 schools around Abbeyfeale, which teach 37% of their pupils; 2 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of LimerickDromtrasna, Convent of Mercy, Abbeyfeale B N.S. 1, S.N. Naomh Padraig | Catholic | 4 | 391 |
| Limerick & Clare ETBColáiste Íde agus Iosaef | Multi-denominational | 1 | 669 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Abbeyfeale
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
1 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 Abbeyfeale’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 5 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Coláiste Íde agus IosaefPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Convent of Mercy N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Abbeyfeale B N.S. 1Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Dromtrasna N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. Naomh PadraigPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Abbeyfeale
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
The only post-primary school within 10 km of Abbeyfeale is Coláiste Íde agus Iosaef, an ETB school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coláiste Íde agus IosaefETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 669 | 0.7 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Abbeyfeale
No special school is in or near Abbeyfeale. 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.
Abbeyfeale beside the 101 other Irish towns of 1,500 to 3,000 people
Towns of a similar size, with the schools in or within 3 km of each; ordered by population, never ranked
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailieborough | 2,974 | 5 | 1,420 | 0 | 20% | 0.1 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 |
| Dunleer | 2,143 | 5 | 1,205 | 0 | 20% | 0.8 km |
| … | ||||||
| Graiguenamanagh-Tinnahinch | 1,506 | 4 | 399 | 0 | 75% | 0.3 km |
Of these 101 other towns, 46 count more pupils at their schools than Abbeyfeale. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 28 of the 102.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Abbeyfeale
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 Abbeyfeale had 1,133 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,060 in 2025/26, fewer than before. S.N. Naomh Padraig grew most: +53% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Abbeyfeale
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 Abbeyfeale
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbeyfeale | 5 | 1,060 | 0 | 40% | 0.7 km |
| Listowel 14 km | 8 | 1,547 | 1 | 50% | 0.4 km |
| Newcastle West 18 km | 8 | 2,648 | 1 | 38% | 0.6 km |
Listowel has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Since 2019/20 the pupils around Abbeyfeale changed by −6%; among its neighbours, Listowel’s grew most (+15%) and Newcastle West’s least (+9%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Abbeyfeale 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 Abbeyfeale
How many schools are there in Abbeyfeale?
In Abbeyfeale or within 3 km of it: 4 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,060 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Abbeyfeale that teach through Irish?
None in Abbeyfeale or within 3 km of it teaches every subject through Irish; some teach it as a subject only.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Abbeyfeale?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Abbeyfeale?
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 Abbeyfeale?
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).