Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 212: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of teachers currently employed within primary and post primary schools; if she will confirm that an additional number of teachers - 600 at primary, 330 at post primary and 150 from the recent Government agreement - will be employed from September 2010; the additional cost per annum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21105/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The public sector numbers for 31 March 2010 were 31,860 primary teachers and 27,860 post-primary teachers.

While education cannot be entirely spared in terms of decisions made in order to control expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long term, it has been protected to a much greater extent than most other areas of public expenditure

For September 2010, the estimated additional teacher requirement is of the order of 600 additional teaching posts at primary and 330 at Post Primary for September 2010. In addition to these estimates, calculated on the basis of demographics and the continued growth in provision for children with special educational needs in schools, the final 150 posts from the revised programme for Government will also be allocated.

The full year cost for the provision of these teaching posts in 2011 will be over €50m.

My Department is keeping projections for future enrolment under constant review.