Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Most post-primaries around Ballymahon take girls and boys: 0% are single-sex, below Irish towns
On this, Ballymahon is below Irish towns (39%). They have 1,663 pupils between them, in or within 3 km of Ballymahon. 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 5 schools in and around Ballymahon 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 Ballymahon’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 Ballymahon
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
None of the 5 schools in and around Ballymahon teaches every subject through Irish.
Who Ballymahon’s schools serve
The pupils at the area’s schools by share, beside Co. Longford’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 Ballymahon | Co. Longford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 46% | 62% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 0% | 1% | 6% |
| Girls | 49% | 49% | 49% |
| Post-primary pupils at single-sex schools | 0% | 26% | 29% |
| Post-primary pupils at fee-paying schools | 0% | 0% | 6% |
46% of the pupils around Ballymahon are at a DEIS school, more than the 27% across Ireland (62% in Co. Longford). Furthest from Ireland’s mix is the share of post-primary pupils at single-sex schools: 0% here against 29%. The biggest school in DEIS is Ballymahon Vocational School (391 pupils).
Each of the 5 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | 759 | 53% | ||
| Ballymahon Vocational SchoolPost-primary · ETB | 391 | 41% | ✓ | |
| St Matthews Mixed N.S.Primary | 373 | 47% | ✓ | |
| Forgney N.S.Primary | 23 | 43% | ||
| Tang N.S.Primary | 117 | 52% |
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 Ballymahon’s schools
Each school’s ethos, 2025/26: the bars show the share of schools of each kind.
4 of Ballymahon’s 5 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Meath (2), CEIST (1) and Longford & Westmeath 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 4 patrons of Ballymahon’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Bishop of Meath is patron of 2 of the 5 schools around Ballymahon, which teach 8% of their pupils; 4 patrons run them in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of MeathTang, Forgney | Catholic | 2 | 140 |
| CEISTMercy | Catholic | 1 | 759 |
| Longford & Westmeath ETBBallymahon Vocational School | Multi-denominational | 1 | 391 |
| Bishop of Ardagh & ClonmacnoiseSt Matthews Mixed | Catholic | 1 | 373 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Ballymahon
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 4 schools, 2 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.
The 5 schools in and around Ballymahon
Here are the schools in Ballymahon or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Ireland doesn’t publish results for individual schools, so none of these carries a letter.
Inspection reports for Ballymahon’s schools
The Department of Education’s Inspectorate: every school’s reports linked, 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 5 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| Mercy Secondary SchoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Ballymahon Vocational SchoolPost-primary · ETB | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Matthews Mixed N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Forgney N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Tang 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 Ballymahon
Every post-primary school within 10 km of the town; families choose and apply to each, at about twelve
2 post-primary schools are within 10 km of Ballymahon: one voluntary secondary 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy Secondary SchoolVoluntary secondary · Catholic | Girls and boys | – | 759 | 0.3 km |
| Ballymahon Vocational SchoolETB · Multi-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 391 | 0.5 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Ballymahon
No special school is in or near Ballymahon. 1 of the 3 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.
Ballymahon beside the 109 other Irish towns of 1,200 to 2,300 people
Schools in or within 3 km of each town, by population; none is ranked, as Ireland publishes no results
| Town | People | Schools | Pupils | All-Irish | DEIS schools | Nearest post-primary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balrothery | 2,282 | 16 | 7,860 | 2 | 31% | 1.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Fethard | 1,738 | 2 | 493 | 0 | 100% | 0.4 km |
| Lanesborough-Ballyleague | 1,733 | 4 | 514 | 0 | 75% | 1.2 km |
| Dunmore East | 1,731 | 1 | 196 | 0 | 0% | 9.1 km |
| Millstreet | 1,722 | 4 | 703 | 0 | 0% | 0.9 km |
| Ballymahon | 1,714 | 5 | 1,663 | 0 | 40% | 0.3 km |
| Ballymote | 1,711 | 3 | 694 | 0 | 67% | 0.5 km |
| Convoy | 1,702 | 4 | 1,290 | 0 | 75% | 4 km |
| Tullyallen | 1,697 | 1 | 411 | 0 | 0% | 3.7 km |
| Portumna | 1,690 | 2 | 741 | 0 | 50% | 0.2 km |
| … | ||||||
| Clonee | 1,205 | 25 | 12,320 | 2 | 28% | 1.3 km |
Of these 109 other towns, 12 count more pupils at their schools than Ballymahon. An all-Irish school is within 3 km of 16 of the 110.
Department of Education school lists 2025/26 (preliminary); CSO Census 2022 populations.
Pupil numbers around Ballymahon
Every school in or within 3 km of the town each September, counted where it stands today.
The schools in and around Ballymahon had 1,438 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,663 in 2025/26.
Pupils at schools in and around Ballymahon
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 Ballymahon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballymahon | 5 | 1,663 | 0 | 40% | 0.3 km |
| Edgeworthstown 18 km | 3 | 423 | 0 | 33% | 11 km |
| Longford 18 km | 12 | 3,607 | 1 | 83% | 0.2 km |
| Moate 19 km | 4 | 1,410 | 0 | 0% | 0.4 km |
Longford has the most schools teaching through Irish nearby: 1. Of Ballymahon’s neighbours, Moate saw the most growth in pupils since 2019/20 (+4%) and Edgeworthstown the least (−2%); Ballymahon itself: +6%.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Ballymahon 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 Ballymahon
How many schools are there in Ballymahon?
In Ballymahon or within 3 km of it: 3 primary schools and 2 secondary schools, with 1,663 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Ballymahon that teach through Irish?
None in Ballymahon 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 Ballymahon?
No: all 2 secondary schools here are free.
What is the best school in Ballymahon?
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 Ballymahon?
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).