Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

May I apologise in advance to the Chair and to the Minister and Minister of State as I will have to leave very shortly?

There is one stand-out figure in this particular Estimate, that is the more than doubling of the Estimate for the number of retirees from the teaching profession. There are extra retirees in the IT sector as well. The figure originally projected was 823 retirees, but now there are some 1,773 retirees. This is obviously costing a great deal of money but it has implications down the line as well.

Can the Minister give a breakdown of the figures by the number of primary level and second level teachers who will retire this year? Is it possible to give a breakdown by subject of the second level teachers who will retire? How does this rate of retirement affect the shortage of teachers in both primary and second level schools? Is this one of the reasons for it? It looks as if people are running out of the profession and what is the reason for that? It is worrying if retirements at this rate continue. What representations has the Minister made to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the Public Services Stability Agreement 2013-2018 and the impact that has on people's decision to retire?