Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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179. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which she remains satisfied regarding the adequacy of teacher numbers at primary and second level schools throughout the country; if she has received communications from the various school authorities in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38451/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Teaching resources are allocated to schools on a school year basis. The bulk of teaching posts in schools are allocated on a permanent basis. Unlike most other areas of the public service teaching vacancies continue to be filled in accordance with published Department criteria. The Government has prioritised, as best as possible, the filling of front-line posts in the Education sector within the constraints of the Employment Control Framework.

We have a growing population of young people in this country and despite the difficult financial circumstances we face as a country, we prioritised education so that the number of teachers we have in the system has also grown in order to protect pupil teacher ratios. Between this year and last year this has involved an increase of around 2,300 teachers in our primary and post-primary schools. This is a very significant investment at a time of scarce resources.

While there has been a moratorium on recruitment across other sectors in the public service, this has not applied to teaching and shows the commitment this Government has to educating our future generations.

The main priority for any additional resources for the foreseeable future will be to cater for the continuing increase in demographics at all levels in the education system.