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Irish Education Inquiry 1826 – Clonakilty and surrounding area

Lecture by

Tony McCarthy

on

Thursday Feb 26 2026

at

8pm

in

Clonakilty GAA Pavilion, Ahamilla, P85 WN84

 

In the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries there was an aspiration in many European countries for better education for the wider population. One of the reasons for this was the industrial revolution which demanded more educated people to operate increasingly complicated machinery, commerce etc. Other reasons were, the new political and social values that followed the French revolution, increased urbanisation and populations. Between 1800 and 1826 the Commissioners of Education carried out a number of inquiries or reports into the state of education in Ireland. The most important of these was the Irish Education Inquiry of 1826. It contained the names of 12,530 Masters and Mistresses of 11,823 schools throughout Ireland. The report gave details on numbers of pupils attending the schools and their religion. It gave details on teachers’ pay, the conditions of the schools (many of which were hedge schools) etc. The consequence of the report was the establishment of the National School system in 1831. In this the bi-centenary year of the publication of the report, Tony will discuss early stakeholders and pioneers of this period in Irish primary education. He will also give details of the schools and teachers in Clonakilty and surrounding parishes included in the report.  

Tony McCarthy is a retired member of An Garda Síochána. He has an MA in Local History and a Diploma in Genealogy from UCC. In 2022 he co-authored a book with Fachtna O Donovan titled ‘The Guards of West Cork – 100 years of service 1922-2022’. He has had many articles published in local historical journals as well as the Irish Genealogist. He has given historical talks to several groups and historical societies. His historical interests are in marine history, medieval genealogy and social history. He lives in Connonagh.

Cover charge: €5.