Mr. John Boyle:

I regret to tell the Deputy that the figure he has mentioned, while true, is exaggerated. That number includes all of the teachers approached by the former Minister, Deputy McHugh, in Dubai in an attempt to attract them back to Ireland. Some of those people have kept up their registration because it is easier to keep it up and pay the €65 fee rather than allow it to lapse. Those teachers are in Dubai because of pay inequality in Ireland. Despite all the measures that we have put in place to try to attract people back here with good jobs, many of our best and brightest will remain abroad as long as pay inequality persists.

There are, of course, qualified teachers in Ireland who may have gone into other walks of life and may be willing to come back and help out on a day-to-day basis with substitution but I doubt that there are 6,000 across the primary and secondary sectors who are readily available. Many of those people are just keeping up their registration because it is easier to do that than allow it to lapse.