Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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125. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures she is taking to address the recruitment and retention crisis in education and the related increase in numbers of unqualified teachers employed in the system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16936/25]

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.

In circumstances where posts are unfilled for a period of time, or where a vacancy arises in a school due to a teacher taking leave, such vacancies may be filled by substitute teachers. Schools may only employ a person who is not registered with the Teaching Council for short periods up to a maximum of 5 days, as a last resort, after all attempts at recruiting a qualified teacher have been unsuccessful.

Substitution by those teachers not registered with the Teaching Council accounts for approximately 0.7% of all days of instruction in the 2023/24 school year.

As with other sectors, recruitment challenges exist in some schools. To address teacher supply issues, my 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
• Between 2018 and 2024 there has been a significant increase of 5,621 (13.08%) primary, and 6,006 (17.42%) post-primary allocated teaching posts.

I am considering further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce and ensure that schools have the support needed to provide an excellent education for every student.