A more streamlined system for applying to second-level schools will be piloted in some areas later this year in a bid to overhaul what parents describe as a chaotic and stressful applications process.
At present, parents are advised to apply to multiple schools in areas that are heavily oversubscribed to boost their children’s chances of securing a place in a local school.
Many parents have complained that this approach results in long waiting lists and months of stress as they wait to find out if their child has secured a place.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee has confirmed that a new common applications system will be piloted in a “small number of areas” for the 2025-26 academic year. A commitment to extend it nationally is contained in the programme for government.
While details of how the system will operate have yet to be confirmed, it is likely to require a parent to make a single application that lists their preferred schools, in order of preference. This data will then be shared among participating schools in a local area.
Common application systems have been in use in Limerick and Ennis – and for primary special classes in Dublin 15.
“My department is taking lessons from the implementation of these systems and building on the recent experience of data-sharing with schools to pilot an early iteration of a common application system at post-primary level in a small number of areas for the 2026-27 admissions process,” Ms McEntee told the Dáil recently.
Fine Gael TD Emer Currie, who has been calling for an overhaul of school admissions, welcomed the move.
“The truth of the matter is that parents go through a rollercoaster to secure a school place in areas like Dublin West,” she said.
“There are lengthy waiting lists that have to drop in order for children to attend school and it is very stressful. The principle behind a common system is uniformity to what is a disjointed applications process. Some deal with catchments while others deal with feeder schools, which can be very confusing for parents.”
Ms Currie said a common system would remove duplicate enrolments, reduce waiting lists, promote collaboration across schools and flag capacity issues in schools issues much earlier.
Almost half of all secondary schools across the State were oversubscribed last year, according to data seen by The Irish Times, with the highest concentrations in parts of Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, Galway and Cork, where there has been rapid population growth over recent years.
At a national level, the Department of Education says there are more than enough school places for children, with an excess of 10,000 places available for the 2025-2026 school year.
There are, however, enrolment pressures in some commuter-belt areas.
The Department of Education has confirmed that it is monitoring admissions in “high enrolment pressure areas” in parts of Galway, Kildare and Wicklow and will put in “specific accommodation solutions” to support first-year intake.
It has pledged that every child will have a school place for September 2025.
In many cases, families and public representatives say school place shortages are down to delays building new schools or expanding existing ones in areas of rapid population growth.
Emma McCann, whose daughter Jamie (12) is on the waiting list for three local second-level schools, said the process felt chaotic and unfair.
McCann said her daughter is 52nd on the waiting list for both Temple Carrig in Greystones and Coláiste Chraobh Abhann in Kilcoole – about 5km away – and 18th on the waiting list for Greystones Community College.
“I’ve been told the lists aren’t budging,” McCann said. “I was asked by the receptionist at one of the schools, ‘Would you consider home-schooling?’
