Photo: Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0Extra support for disadvantaged areas reaches 6 of the 7 schools around Birr
86% of the schools around Birr are DEIS schools, above both Co. Offaly’s towns (57%) and Irish towns (35%). Its one secondary school within 3 km, St.Brendan's Community School, has 875 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.
What stands out about Birr’s schools
Extra support for many schools
Many schools here are in DEIS, which gives schools in disadvantaged areas more teachers, money and help; across Ireland, 30% of schools are. In DEIS: St.Brendan's Community School (875), Croinchoill N.S. (243), St Brendans Monastery (178) and Mercy Primary School (141), and 2 more. Who runs them ↓
Drawn from the Department of Education’s lists; none of it judges how well a school teaches.
Who runs Birr’s schools
Who runs each school, as listed for 2025/26; the bars give the share of schools of each kind.
4 of Birr’s 7 schools have a Catholic ethos, against 80% across Ireland. The patrons with most schools here: Bishop of Killaloe (4), Laois & Offaly ETB & Presentation Brothers (1) and Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe & Ardfert COI (1). 6 of the 7 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 7 schools in and around Birr
Here are the schools in Birr or within 3 km of it, every one with its own page. Letters and results are missing here for a reason: Ireland publishes neither school by school.
Where the 7 schools in and around Birr 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 Birr’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 Birr
The schools by teaching language, with Ireland’s share as the black tick.
1 of Birr’s 7 schools teach every subject through Irish: Gaelscoil na Laochra.
Who Birr’s schools serve
How the area’s pupils divide, against Co. Offaly’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 Birr | Co. Offaly | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at DEIS schools | 97% | 42% | 27% |
| Pupils at all-Irish schools | 3% | 2% | 6% |
| Girls | 50% | 49% | 49% |
DEIS schools teach 97% of the pupils around Birr, a larger share than Ireland’s 27% (Co. Offaly: 42%). Of the DEIS schools here, St.Brendan's Community School is the biggest: 875 pupils.
Each of the 7 schools
| School | Pupils | Girls | DEIS | All-Irish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St.Brendan's Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | 875 | 53% | ✓ | |
| St Brendans MonasteryPrimary | 178 | 0% | ✓ | |
| Mercy Primary SchoolPrimary | 141 | 100% | ✓ | |
| S.N. OsmannPrimary | 86 | 44% | ✓ | |
| Gaelscoil na LaochraPrimary | 45 | 58% | ✓ | |
| Croinchoill N.S.Primary | 243 | 53% | ✓ | |
| S.N. an CillinPrimary | 140 | 47% | ✓ |
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 4 patrons of Birr’s schools
Patrons own the schools and set their ethos; boards of management run them day to day.
Of the 7 schools around Birr, 4 have Bishop of Killaloe as patron, teaching 41% of the pupils; 4 patrons in all. An Education and Training Board runs one of them.
| Patron | Ethos | Schools | Pupils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop of KillaloeCroinchoill, St Brendans Monastery, Mercy Primary School, S.N. an Cillin | Catholic | 4 | 702 |
| Laois & Offaly ETB & Presentation BrothersSt.Brendan's | Inter-denominational | 1 | 875 |
| Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe & Ardfert COIS.N. Osmann | Church of Ireland | 1 | 86 |
| An Foras PátrúnachtaGaelscoil na Laochra | Multi-denominational | 1 | 45 |
Department of Education school lists: patron 2024/25, ethos 2025/26.
How children get a place in Birr
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 7 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.
Inspection reports for Birr’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 7 schools below links its own.
| School | Reports on gov.ie |
|---|---|
| St.Brendan's Community SchoolPost-primary · Community school | Inspection reports ↗ |
| St Brendans MonasteryPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Mercy Primary SchoolPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. OsmannPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Gaelscoil na LaochraPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| Croinchoill N.S.Primary | Inspection reports ↗ |
| S.N. an CillinPrimary | Inspection reports ↗ |
Department of Education Inspectorate reports on gov.ie, found by each school’s roll number.
Post-primary schools within reach of Birr
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 Birr is St.Brendan's Community School, a community school. It takes girls and boys. None within 10 km teaches every subject through Irish.
| School | Takes | Also | Pupils | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St.Brendan's Community SchoolCommunity school · Inter-denominational | Girls and boys | DEIS | 875 | 1.4 km |
Department of Education post-primary list 2025/26; straight-line distances from the town’s centre point.
Special schools and classes around Birr
No special school is in or near Birr. 4 of the 6 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.
Birr beside the 99 other Irish towns of 3,300 to 6,400 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castleknock | 6,355 | 77 | 27,912 | 3 | 51% | 0.1 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 |
| Saggart | 4,573 | 23 | 9,161 | 3 | 61% | 0.7 km |
| … | ||||||
| Tower | 3,300 | 6 | 2,638 | 1 | 17% | 3.2 km |
More pupils attend the schools around 82 of the other 99 towns than around Birr. 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 Birr
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 Birr had 1,749 pupils in 2015/16 and 1,708 in 2025/26, fewer than before. Gaelscoil na Laochra grew most: +29% since 2019/20.
Pupils at schools in and around Birr
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 Birr
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birr | 7 | 1,708 | 1 | 86% | 1.4 km |
| Banagher 12 km | 3 | 877 | 0 | 0% | 0.5 km |
| Kilcormac 15 km | 3 | 536 | 0 | 33% | 0.7 km |
| Roscrea 17 km | 8 | 1,763 | 0 | 50% | 0.5 km |
| Borrisokane 18 km | 2 | 862 | 0 | 50% | 1 km |
Since 2019/20 the pupils around Birr changed by +4%; among its neighbours, Borrisokane’s grew most (+24%) and Banagher’s least (−3%).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. Every school in Birr 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 Birr
How many schools are there in Birr?
In Birr or within 3 km of it: 6 primary schools and 1 secondary school, with 1,708 pupils between them.
Are there schools in Birr that teach through Irish?
Yes, 1: Gaelscoil na Laochra teach every subject through Irish.
Are there fee-paying secondary schools near Birr?
No: the secondary school here is free.
What is the best school in Birr?
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 Birr?
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).