Ms Siobhán Healy:

Teachers who lapse from the register for any reason are welcome to apply to return to it when they wish. Under our legislation, as the director said, if teachers lapse off the register for any reason, they must make a full application to come back onto it. However, although they have to make a full application, we want to try to make the process as smooth as possible so we developed a tailored process which commenced at the end of January. We give detailed guidance on what the process looks like. We name the documentation people need to submit with the new application and the documentation we have on file that they do not need to resubmit. We detail exactly what is needed. We have also set up a dedicated team to deal with these applications and we have a dedicated inbox and phone line for queries. Anyone who is looking to return to the register will get all the necessary guidance and be guided through the process. As the director said, the current average processing time for those applications is four weeks.