Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1129. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of teachers working in the State across both primary and secondary schools. [42506/25]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1138. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of additional teachers in the system from 2020 to date in 2025. [42515/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1129 and 1138 together.

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.

The recruitment and appointment of teachers for teaching positions is managed by individual school authorities. There are over 3,700 individual school authorities, responsible for this process, including boards of management at primary and post-primary schools, as well as Education and Training Boards (ETBs).

Teacher recruitment is a priority for my Department and there are now more qualified teachers than ever working in our schools. Analysis of payroll data, as of March 2025, shows that there are 79,225 teachers employed in our schools across the country with 43,221 at primary level including special schools and 36,004 in post-primary schools.

The Department publishes data annually on teachers on the website including data on the number of teachers appointed in the State across both primary and secondary schools. The post-primary data does not include ETB teachers. The data published on teachers is available :

The Department also provides data on an academic year basis on teacher numbers (whole time equivalents) as part of the Education Indicators for Ireland publication. The most recent report was published in July this year and provided data from 2019/20 to 2023/24 school years and is available .

Teaching is an attractive career choice:

There are 3,700 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2024.

The Teaching Council reported 94,928 teachers registered in the 2016/17 school year increasing to 122,743 teachers registered in 2023/24. Currently, the Teacher Council has reported that there are over 126,000 on the register representing a 33% increase in the number of teachers registered between 2017 and now.

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 for February this year showed increases in primary first preferences of 9% and in post-primary of 5%.

The Department frequently consults and engages closely with stakeholders on issues such as teacher supply through industrial relations forums, sectoral meetings, and direct discussions.

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.