Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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345. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if applications or the possibility to sign a fixed-term contract in a school is possible in the hope that the time-bound provision is open by September 2025 for teachers. [35364/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland including the registration of teachers in the state.

It is a function of the Council under the Teaching Council Acts (s7(2)) to act as the competent authority for recognition of qualifications obtained by a person who has applied under this Act for registration as a teacher.

The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 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 qualification requirements for each route are set out in the Schedule.

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

To assist further with teacher supply challenges, I announced last April that I would work with the Teaching Council to introduce a proposal to enable eligible teachers who have qualified outside of Ireland to apply for registration and complete their induction requirement here.

I see this as an important step in encouraging more teachers to work and start their careers here in Ireland and I am pleased to note that significant progress has been made towards realising this measure.

Under the Teaching Council Act, the Council makes regulations for the purposes of registration through statutory instrument, including to amend or replace existing regulations. A further Statutory Instrument (SI) is required to establish the proposed creation of this timebound provision.

The drafting of the legislation is progressing, and the Teaching Council is currently in consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner as required in accordance with Article 36 (4) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Please note the current timeframes publicised are indicative and not definitive in relation to the progression of the drafting of the legislation and other tasks associated with the making of the new Registration Regulations.

Given that there is a procedure, and specific steps required, it is not possible to give any specific detail in relation to the timeframe for enacting of the legislation and the opening of the timebound provision at this time, but I am hopeful this will be in place in the coming months.