Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is unfair and incorrect to say the first response of the Minister is around career breaks. It is not, and no decision has been made on that. A whole range of initiatives have been taken in respect of teacher supply. The limits on substitute work applying to teachers on career breaks have also been temporarily suspended. The Teaching Council made regulations allowing for the registration of third- and fourth-year undergraduate student teachers under a new registration route, route 5. So far, over 2,100 students have applied for that registration. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has agreed to a waiver of pension abatement for retired teachers returning to teach for up to 50 days in each of the three calendar years from 2021 to 2023, inclusive. The Department of Education has put in place a scheme for 2022-23 to allow post-primary teachers to teach in their subject area over the usual limit of 22 hours per week, up to a maximum of 20 additional hours per term. Free upskilling programmes are now available for registered teachers and so on, as well as additional posts.

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