Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 471: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of restrictive recognition teachers here at present and the number that are employed by her Department. [26295/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There are 402 teachers with restricted recognition currently working in primary schools. My Department does not have information on the number of such teachers outside primary schools. Restricted recognition gives eligibility to teach in certain categories of special schools and in categories of special classes in mainstream schools where Irish is not a curricular requirement. Teachers with such recognition are also entitled to take up positions in special schools for young offenders, youth encounter projects and special education projects.

My Department grants restricted recognition to teachers who trained outside the State with a recognised primary teacher qualification, and teachers with certain approved Montessori. My Department also grants restricted recognition to teachers with a recognised post-primary qualification to enable them to teach in a special school where a proportion of pupils attending the special school are of post-primary age and where second level programmes are being provided by the school.