Ms Deirdre McDonnell:

We need to look at it more closely because there has not been a fall-off in respect of the primary version of the programme whereas there has in the context of the post-primary version. That may be due to people looking at other options in the labour market. We need to look at the issues relating to that more carefully.

I accept the concerns on the numbers. I was asked about career breaks and retirements. We have lifted restrictions on career breaks and communicated with retired teachers about staying on the Teaching Council register in order to allow them to take up substitute appointments. We can continue to ensure that those messages are out in the system. New Irish programmes have come on stream. There are extra places on an undergraduate programme and there are two new programmes coming on stream in 2018 and 2019 as part of the Gaeltacht policy implementation. We can provide the committee with the details of those. Supply panels were mentioned. There were supply panels in the past. They were reviewed and were not found to be a completely efficient use of resources or way to make substitution available. It is not an issue we will look at to see if it can be done in a different way. However, the steering group can consider the issue.