How many primary schools would Ireland need if every family genuinely had a choice of school based on their beliefs?
It’s a question that gets asked all the time, but very few people ever try to calculate the answer.
So I built a simple interactive calculator.
Choose:
✅ How far families should be expected to travel (10 or 30 minutes)
✅ Which belief groups should have their own network of schools?
The calculator then works out how many primary schools Ireland would need under those assumptions.
It isn’t a proposal. It’s a thought experiment designed to test one simple phrase that gets repeated over and over again:
“We just need more school choice.”
Have a play with it and let me know what assumptions you think are fair. I suspect you’ll be surprised by the results.