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

There is no doubt that recruiting 5,000 teachers over two years puts some pressure on the system. We are successfully filling those posts, however, and are making provision to ease the pressure where pinch points occur. I am also sitting down with my Department to look at other potential initiatives, particularly in some of the areas, such as STEM and languages, in which we are experiencing pinch points. We are very definitely competing with other growing sectors that are demanding maths, physics, STEM and so on. I am looking to see if we can take targeted initiatives to attract more of such graduates into teaching.

We will have 1,750 teachers qualifying at primary level this year. The recruitment plan next year is for 650.

5 o’clock

There will be considerably more headroom for recruitment next year than was there was in September last.

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