Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will address Deputy Thomas Byrne's point. The actual number of retirees is not that different from last year. There has not been a big surge. Forecasting in this area is, as Deputy Jan O'Sullivan states, a difficulty. People have discretion to retire between the ages of 55 years and 70 years. There has been a difference in forecasting method as between our forecasts and those accepted. I think the situation is that retirements are a steady feature. I think 1,114 teachers will retire this year and the number of teacher retirements in the previous year was 1,168. We do not have the figure broken out by subject, but I am sure I can give the committee the figure for the number of retirements at primary level which is 670 and 444 at secondary level. The figure has been relatively stable.

The overall numbers graduating from initial teacher training is well in excess of those numbers and is well over 3,000. We have been recruiting in the past couple of years. I think the figure for recruitment of teachers was 2,900 in September 2017 and 2,400 in the previous September. We are filling the vacant positions. It is not the case that we cannot recruit the teachers, but there may be difficulty in the recruitment of teachers with specific subject areas. We are looking at ways in which we can address those difficulties, particularly in the light of the need to address the tightness of supply of teachers with STEM subjects, foreign languages, home economics and Irish.

We are looking at initiatives in each of those areas to address the need to attract more people who study in those areas to teaching. That is an issue that we are examining. Deputy Halligan may want to deal with apprenticeship.