Just over 30,000 pupils attend Cavan-Monaghan schools this year

In the academic year of 2026-27 around 2,000 new junior infants and the same number of first years started their new schools in Cavan and Monaghan.

NEW figures released by the Department of Education this morning reveals that just over 30,000 children started or returned to school in Cavan and Monaghan this September.

In Cavan, a total of 16,658 pupils and 14,187 in Monaghan are attending school for the 2026-27 academic year making the exact total for both counties 30,845.

Broken down into primary and secondary schools, the stats show there are 9,738 students in primary school in Cavan and of those, 1,097 are new junior infants.

In Monaghan, 913 of the 7,768 national school students are new junior infants.

In the post-primary age group, there are similar numbers of first years entering secondary school for the first time this year in each county.

While 1,158 of the 6,919 secondary students in Cavan are newcomers, 1,022 of the cohort of 6,420 secondary school pupils in Co Monaghan are also new first years.

Nationally, there are 965,000 children and young people attending school this year with over half a million of those in primary and special school settings.

The Department of Education employs more than 75,000 teachers including just under 40,000 in primary schools and almost 35,000 in secondary posts. There are 1,870 teachers in Ireland employed in special schools.

The department says Ireland has 29 special schools and that 34,000 children will this year attend a special class or school. There are 23,000 special needs assistants in posts this year.

€8 billion will be spent on salaries for teaching and other staff in schools, education and youth sectors and will account for 63 per cent of the department’s overall €14.1 billion budget for this coming year.

According to a statement from the Department of Education, €1.7 billion or 13 per cent will be spent on pensions for 50,800 school staff retirees, €804 million or six per cent on capitation, grants and free schoolbooks and €641 million on school transport for 181,000 pupils.