Photo: National Party from Dublin, Ireland · CC BY 2.0Most post-primaries around Pallaskenry take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Co. Limerick’s towns and Irish towns
That puts Pallaskenry below both Co. Limerick’s towns (54%) and Irish towns (39%). Salesian Secondary College, with 746 pupils, is the only secondary school within 3 km. These schools are described rather than graded, because Ireland publishes no school results 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.
Who runs Pallaskenry’s schools
Ethos as listed for 2025/26: each bar splits the schools by who runs them.
3 of Pallaskenry’s 3 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Limerick (2) and Salesian Fathers of Don Bosco (1). None of the 3 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 3 schools in and around Pallaskenry
Every school in Pallaskenry 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 3 schools in and around Pallaskenry 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 Pallaskenry’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 Pallaskenry
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 3 schools in and around Pallaskenry teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Pallaskenry’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 Pallaskenry | Co. Limerick | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 0% | 25% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 7% | 6% |
| Girls | 45% | 48% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 0% of the pupils around Pallaskenry, a smaller share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Limerick: 25%). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of pupils at all-Irish schools: 0% here against 6%.
Each of the 3 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pallaskenry N.S.Primary | 135 | 40% | ||
| Salesian Secondary CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 746 | 45% | ||
| Scoil Cill ChurnainPrimary | 174 | 51% |
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 Pallaskenry’s schools
Each school has a patron that owns it and sets its ethos; its board of management runs it.
The schools around Pallaskenry answer to 2 patrons, and Bishop of Limerick leads with 2 of the 3 schools and 29% of their pupils.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of LimerickScoil Cill Churnain, Pallaskenry | Catholic | 2 | 309 |
| Salesian Fathers of Don BoscoSalesian Secondary College | Catholic | 1 | 746 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Pallaskenry
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
2 schools here have grown by 5% or more since 2019/20, 0 have shrunk by as much, out of 3; 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 Pallaskenry’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 3 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Pallaskenry N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Salesian Secondary CollegePost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Scoil Cill ChurnainPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Pallaskenry
All post-primaries within 10 km; at about twelve, families choose and apply school by school
4 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Pallaskenry: one voluntary secondary school, one comprehensive school, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesian Secondary CollegeVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 746 | 1 km |
| Shannon Comprehensive SchoolComprehensive · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 765 | 7.2 km |
| St Caimin's Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 794 | 7.3 km |
| Colaiste MhuireETB · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | – | 269 | 8.2 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Pallaskenry
No special school is in or near Pallaskenry. 1 of the 2 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.
Pallaskenry beside the 215 other Irish towns of 400 to 800 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crinkill | 795 | 7 | 1,708 | 1 | 86% | 3.1 km |
| … | ||||||
| Garristown | 619 | 1 | 191 | 0 | 0% | 6.5 km |
| Fenit | 619 | 1 | 43 | 0 | 0% | 9.3 km |
| Kilcummin | 612 | 3 | 415 | 1 | 0% | 5.4 km |
| Ballyhooly | 610 | 1 | 167 | 0 | 0% | 7.9 km |
| Pallaskenry | 610 | 3 | 1,055 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| Conna | 609 | 1 | 149 | 0 | 0% | 13 km |
| Clonaslee | 608 | 2 | 363 | 0 | 50% | 1.1 km |
| Ballymurn | 607 | 2 | 207 | 0 | 0% | 6.7 km |
| Saleen | 601 | 2 | 653 | 0 | 0% | 4.6 km |
| … | ||||||
| Oilgate | 401 | 2 | 152 | 0 | 100% | 6.2 km |
Among the 215 other towns, 19 have more pupils at their schools than Pallaskenry does. Teaching through Irish is on offer within 3 km in 18 of the 216.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Pallaskenry
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 Pallaskenry had 915 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,055 in 2025/26. Scoil Cill Churnain grew most: +19% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Pallaskenry
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 Pallaskenry
For each nearby town, its schools in or within 3 km of its outline, with straight-line distances.
| Town | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pallaskenry | 3 | 1,055 | 0 | 0% | 1 km |
| Shannon 7.6 km | 10 | 2,913 | 1 | 20% | 0.6 km |
| Askeaton 8.5 km | 2 | 426 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Adare 10 km | 4 | 446 | 0 | 0% | 6.6 km |
| Sixmilebridge 13 km | 1 | 423 | 0 | 0% | 7.1 km |
| Newmarket-On-Fergus 14 km | 2 | 272 | 0 | 0% | 6.4 km |
| Rathkeale 14 km | 5 | 971 | 0 | 60% | 0.2 km |
Shannon has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Pupils around Pallaskenry: +7% since 2019/20. Among the neighbours, Rathkeale led (+7%) and Askeaton trailed (−22%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Pallaskenry 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 Pallaskenry
How many schools are there in Pallaskenry?
In Pallaskenry or within 3 km of it: 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,055 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Pallaskenry that teach through Irish?
None in Pallaskenry 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 Pallaskenry?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Pallaskenry?
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 Pallaskenry?
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).