Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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264. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will expedite the application for a Teaching Council number of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28551/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. It acts in the interests of the public good while upholding and enhancing standards in the teaching profession.

The Teaching Council registers teachers in accordance with the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2016.  Overseas qualifications in accordance with the Teaching Council [Registration] Regulations 2016 and the EU Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive (2013/55/EC).

The Minister for Education commenced Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act, 2001 on 28 January 2014. Section 30 makes it a requirement for teachers to register with the Teaching Council in order to be paid from State funds.

Fully qualified teachers who have qualified outside of the Republic of Ireland are eligible to apply for registration with the Teaching Council. All applications are individually assessed in a holistic manner to ensure that qualifications are of a comparable standard to those achieved by graduates of accredited programmes in Ireland. Where significant differences arise, conditions (qualification shortfalls) will be applied to the teacher's registration.

The processing time for overseas applications, as outlined on the Teaching Council website, is approximately 12 weeks from the time all of the required documentation is received, and not necessarily when the initial application is made.

In order to carry out an individual assessment of teaching qualification for registration purposes, the Council requests specific documents to be submitted with an application for registration, as per the

In relation to the person that the Deputy is referring to, the application for the assessment of qualifications for the purpose of registering was submitted initially online on 10 November 2021. Due to the application not being complete, it was returned to the applicant in early 2022 with a list of missing evidence required to progress her application. The application was then resubmitted with all of the required documentation.

Upon receipt of further information, this person’s application was sent for external assessment. The advisors sought further information in order to make a fair and full assessment: list of texts studied, the number of ECTS credits studied and number of hours teaching practice. The required information was subsequently resubmitted.

The applicant’s assessments are now complete and I am informed that the Council intends to send confirmation of registration shortly.