Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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427. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to retain qualified teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25285/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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This Government is fully committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience, with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are dedicated to supporting their learning. This remains a top priority.

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.
• The Teaching Council reported there were 94,928 teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2016/17 school year and reported 122,743 teachers registered in 2023/24. Currently, the Teacher Council have reported that there are over 126,821 on the register. This represents a 33.6% increase in the number of teachers registered between 2017 and now.
• Between 2018/19 and the last school year 2023/24, through record investment by Government, the number of teaching posts has increased by 10,408 with 5,339 (14.3%) primary, and 5,069 (17.8%) post-primary allocated teaching posts.

• Budget 2025 introduced a €2,000 bursary to increase the number of qualified STEM teachers in post-primary schools payable in the final two years of their undergraduate programme, in exchange for a two-year teaching commitment.
• Budget 2024 introduced a PME fee refund scheme: a €2,000 bursary for teachers graduating with a Professional Master of Education (PME) in 2024 aimed at encouraging newly qualified teachers to take up roles in primary and post-primary schools, and
• an expansion of upskilling programmes under Budget 2024 and continued in 2025, offering free courses to teachers in high-demand subjects to reduce out-of-field teaching. New programmes in Irish, French, politics & society, and computer science will commence in 2025 and complement existing programmes in maths, physics, and Spanish.

• 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.
• Commencement of workforce planning for teachers. A new project, supported by UNESCO and the EU Commission, will create a strategic plan for managing Ireland’s teaching workforce. The project aims to consider the sustainability of the teaching profession in Ireland, with a focus on the factors that impact teacher supply. This two-year project will involve consultations with key stakeholders to develop recommendations.
• Development of the Teaching Transforms campaign, which promotes the teaching profession and encourage students to follow a career in teaching. The campaign uses digital, radio and video media, and is supported by a dedicated webpage, www.gov.ie/teachingtransforms. Promotion campaigns have been developed to coincide with the CAO closing date and change of mind deadline in recent years.

• With 3,700 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2024 and over 126,800 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. First preference data from the CAO published recently showed increases in primary first preferences of 9% and in post-primary of 5%.
• Teacher’s pay has increased significantly in recent years. In 2013, a new entrant’s starting pay was €30,702 that rose over successive pay agreements to the current rate of €44,435 for primary and €45,829 for post-primary teachers. The new public service pay agreement means further increases to €46,000, which represents an over 46% increase on the 2013 salary. The new pay deal will mean that teachers’ salary will increase to a maximum of €85,000 per year which compares well internationally.

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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428. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans for any additional funding and staffing resources that will be provided to support the expansion of the School Completion Programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25286/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Education and Youth, I am very conscious of the need to ensure our schools are supported enabling them to maximise teaching and learning outcomes for all students. It is vitally important that our education system is one in which every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.

The School Completion Programme (SCP) is funded by my department via Tulsa Education Support Service (TESS) and is a central element of the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme, a key policy initiative of my department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level, in a targeted and equitable way, across the primary and post-primary sector.

Since my department took over responsibility for SCP in January 2021, the programme has seen an annual increase in funding. for 2025, €1m additional funding has been secured, which brings the total funding for the programme to just under €37m.

It is also worth noting that work to develop a new employment framework for the SCP is under way. This work will lead to a more robust, and sustainable employment model that will support this programme, and its workforce, into the future. It is my intention that this work will strengthen the greater integration of the supports provided to address educational disadvantage and will support those children and young people most at risk of early school leaving.

The DEIS programme, which includes the SCP as a key support, is based on the premise that in order to have the maximum possible impact on providing opportunities for students most at risk of educational disadvantage, extra resources must be targeted as closely as possible at those students with the greatest level of need.

As Minister, I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage.

A new DEIS Plan will be published in 2025. This plan will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children at risk of educational disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to tackling educational disadvantage, and working towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time.