Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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322. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the number of teachers currently employed in Ireland; the number able to teach uniquely through the Irish language; the number of them currently teaching uniquely through the Irish language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4784/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government.The recruitment and appointment of teachers for teaching positions is managed by individual school authorities. There are over 3,700 individual school authorities, responsible for this process, including boards of management at primary and post-primary schools, as well as Education and Training Boards (ETBs). As individual school authorities gather data on the teachers that they employ and given that my Department does not collate these data, it is not possible to calculate the number who are able to teach uniquely through the Irish language.

Like many sectors, recruitment challenges exist in the education sector, especially in urban areas. While most teaching positions are filled, some schools face significant recruitment challenges. To address teacher supply issues, the Department has implemented several measures that have led to:

• an increase of 20% in Initial Teacher Education graduates (student teachers) between 2018 and 2023, and a 30% increase in the number registered with the Teaching Council since 2017, and
• a 16.7% increase in the number of teaching posts allocated to post-primary, and an increase of 13.3% allocated to primary between 2017/18 and 2023/24.

• Budget 2024 included the expansion of upskilling programmes, free to teachers, aimed at increasing the number of qualified teachers in high-demand subjects and reducing out-of-field teaching. New programmes in Irish, French, politics & society, and computer science will complement existing programmes in maths, physics, and Spanish. Trinity College Dublin are delivering the new Irish upskilling programme for post-primary which commenced in January this year.
• Budget 2024 introduced a €2,000 bursary-style fee refund for teachers graduating with a Professional Master of Education (PME) in 2024. This payment, to be made in 2025, aims to encourage newly qualified primary and post-primary teachers to take up teaching roles. A circular issued in September from my department setting out the eligibility criteria and an online portal opened at the end of January for applications.

• increasing the pool of teachers available to undertake substitute work, through the continued suspension of the usual limits on career break and job-sharing schemes and the continuation of the teaching hours’ extension scheme in post-primary schools to 2024/25 school year.
• continuing the Teaching Transforms campaign, which promotes the teaching profession and encourage students to follow a career in teaching. Promotion campaigns have been developed to coincide with the CAO closing date and change of mind deadline in recent years.
• a project, supported by UNESCO and the EU Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support, began recently, focusing on strategic workforce planning for teachers in Ireland.

• With 3,700 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2024 and over 126,000 now on the register.
• Analysis of CAO applications spanning from 2017 to 2024 indicates a sustained and robust demand for undergraduate teaching programmes. On average, 6% of first preference applications during the period from 2017 to 2024 were for either primary or post-primary teaching programmes.
• The new pay deal will mean that teachers’ starting salary will increase to €46,000 rising to a maximum of €85,000 per year which compares well internationally.