Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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123. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps a person in Donegal (details supplied) can take to register for the Teaching Council; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8197/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching and in line with the . As set out in the Schedule of the Regulations, the Council registers teachers under five routes of registration: Route 1 - Primary, Route 2 - Post-primary, Route 3 - Further Education, Route 4 - Other and Route 5 - Student Teacher. The minimum registration requirements for each route are set out in the Regulations. The Department has no role in the registration of individual teachers.

The Teaching Council is the regulator of the teaching profession in Ireland. Their role is to protect the public by promoting and regulating professional standards in teaching. They do this through the statutory registration of teachers, ensuring a highly qualified teaching profession, whose members meet and uphold high standards of professional competence and conduct.

The Teaching Council have informed me that the person that the Deputy is referring to applied for registration on 16 October 2024. Their application has been processed, and it is currently pending receipt of overseas police clearance documentation from Bahrain. Their application has not been refused.

The applicant provided a document from the Honorary Consulate of Ireland – Bahrain dated 15 May 2016 which states that “the Kingdom of Bahrain will not issue Certificates of Good Character to a non-Bahraini national unless the individual is present in the Kingdom”.

However, the process for obtaining Certificates of Good Character has since changed. Since July 2022, the Directorate of Criminal Information at Ministry of Interior has enabled an eService allowing non-Bahraini citizens who previously worked or resided in Bahrain to request Good Conduct Certificates from abroad. This service can be found online at .

The applicant has been advised that they need to submit a Certificate of Good Character from Bahrain or provide up to date documentary evidence from the Ministry that they cannot obtain a Certificate of Good Character from Bahrain.

The Teaching Council further advised they will follow-up with the applicant directly to confirm what is required in order to progress their application.