Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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117. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of teacher posts currently vacant, by county. [17203/25]

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, teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government.

The most recent data shows that there are over 79,000 qualified teachers employed in our schools across the country. Between 2018 and 2024, through record investment by Government, the number of teaching posts has increased by 5,621 (13.08%) in primary, and 6,006 (17.42%) in post-primary schools; the number of teachers registered with the Teaching Council has increased by 30% since 2017.

Given that school authorities manage the recruitment process independently, my Department does not collect data on recruitment by individual employers.

My Department undertakes analyses of the teaching workforce and recently completed an analysis of the teacher payroll. I emphasise that this analysis is a snapshot at a point in time of the relevant data and schools continually recruit throughout the year.

The analysis of the teacher payroll from November 2024 shows that 2.1% of allocated teaching posts were unused. These figures give an indication of the number of vacancies in schools. When compared to the number of allocated posts (74,611) overall, the number of unfilled posts is relatively low.

A survey conducted on post-primary schools in the last school year showed 407 allocated posts were not filled. 77 posts related to special education teachers; 55 posts related to an additional Irish teacher, and a similar amount (53 posts) related to a mathematics teacher.

Like many sectors, recruitment challenges exist in the education sector. I am considering further measures that will continue to strengthen the teaching workforce.