Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, ensured there was funding within the budget for the employment of teachers and SNAs. Without a viable career structure, however, teaching careers will remain unattractive and the supply crisis will continue. The teacher recruitment crisis is a direct result of attempts to make the education system do more with less. A Teachers Union of Ireland survey highlighted that only 13% of teachers receive a permanent contract on initial appointment and only 31% of teachers recruited since 2011 got full hours in their first year of teaching. This means 87% have to make do with part-time work as a direct result of the lack of full-time contracts offered and have no creditworthiness to obtain a mortgage. Schools are being forced to use unqualified teachers, to divert resources away from students with special educational needs and to drop subjects from the curriculum.

At a time when we are crying out for teachers, the remedy is simple. I ask the Taoiseach to provide the relevant funding and put in place the relevant actions to ensure new teachers or those we want to bring home are offered full-time jobs with full-time salaries. Teachers are leaving the country and emigrating. They cannot get mortgages and they face issues relating to the lack of housing and the cost of living. Please give the teachers what they want.

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