Written answers
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Department of Education and Skills
Education Policy
Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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511. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of teachers she hopes to have working in the education system by 2030. [55324/25]
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 this Government.
Recent analysis of teacher payroll data as of March 2025 shows that there is a record number of teachers employed with over 79,000 in all schools (43,000 primary, including special schools and 36,000 in post-primary). There are less than 1% resignations in the primary sector every year and 1.6% in post-primary.
Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, through record investment by Government, the number of teaching posts increased by 10,408 with 5,339 (14.3%) primary, and 5,069 (17.8%) post-primary allocated teaching posts. Further teaching posts in the special education sector were provided in recent budgets in 2024/25 and in the current school year 2025/26.
My Department has introduced a number of measures including a STEM bursary and a measure to assist teachers to gain permanent roles more quickly, to increase the numbers of teachers employed in our primary and post-primary schools
These measures that have led to:
- an increase of 20% in initial teacher education graduates (student teachers) between 2018 and 2023,
- a record number of registered teachers; 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 have reported that there are over 126,000 on the register representing a 33% increase in the number of teachers registered between 2017 and now.
Pupil enrolment projections are a key tool for education planning in Ireland, offering insights into school attendance trends over the next 20 years. In March 2024 the Projections of full-time enrolment Primary and Post Primary level 2023 – 2042 report on enrolment projections was published (available here ). This report, forms part of a regular series by my Department and updates the 2021 national and regional projections which informs teacher demand and supply modelling. Officials of my Department are currently revising the enrolment projections, and expect to publish an updated report later this year.
The revised enrolment projection’s report will inform statistical projections on annual teacher demand and teacher supply at primary and post-primary level. The most recent analysis of teacher supply and demand Developing a Teacher Demand and Supply Model for Ireland 2021-2038 A Technical Report was published in March 2021. (see ).
My Department frequently consults and engages closely with stakeholders on teacher supply issues through industrial relations forums, sectoral meetings, and direct discussions.
I am committed to considering further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce to ensure that schools have the support needed to provide an excellent education for every student.
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