Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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264. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12725/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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In addition to a starting pay of nearly €36,000, newly recruited teachers also benefit from the terms of the Ward Report which reduced the qualifying period for a contract of indefinite duration to two years and removed career break and secondment categories of objective grounds which had previously prevented some teachers from obtaining permanency in their positions. The Ward Report also contains measures designed so that part-time teachers can increase their working hours and gain full-time contracts more easily than before.

In addition, teachers can be recruited on a permanent basis ab initio,once the school/ETB is within its authorised allocation of teaching posts and the criteria outlined in Department circulars for filling teaching posts are complied with.

Subsequent to this, there has been an increase in the number of posts available and the number of teachers recruited in the school year. Some 2,300 new teachers were recruited in 2016-2017 and 2,900 are being recruited in 2017-2018.