Written answers
Tuesday, 4 November 2025
Department of Education and Skills
School Staff
William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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870. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures her Department is taking to address the current shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in DEIS, special education, and Gaeltacht schools; the incentives or supports being considered to improve retention; when she expects to see a reduction in unfilled teaching positions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59798/25]
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.
There are more qualified teachers than ever working in schools with analysis of payroll data from March showing over 79,000 teachers employed nationwide in our schools with over 43,000 at primary level including special schools and 36,000 in post-primary schools. Over 97%, of allocated teaching posts are filled
As with other sectors, recruitment challenges exist in some schools. To address teacher supply and retention 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 over 30% increase in the number registered with the Teaching Council since 2017, and
- between 2018/19 and 2024/25, through record investment by Government, the number of teaching posts has increased by 11,752 with 5,866 (15.7%) in primary, and 5,886 (20.7%) in post-primary Further teaching posts in the special education sector were provided in recent budgets in 2024/25 and in the current school year 2025/26.
Less than 3% of the teaching workforce resign or retire annually from contracted teaching posts, one of the lowest rates in the OECD.
While most teaching positions are filled, some schools face recruitment challenges. Recent analysis of the teachers' payrolls for March 2025 showed there were 1849.1 unutilised allocated posts in schools, representing 2.5% of all allocated posts. There were 2.6% (627.6 posts) unutilised allocated posts in DEIS schools 3.4% (60.9) unutilised allocated posts in special education schools, and 0.4% (6.7) unutilised allocated posts in Gaeltacht schools. These are relatively low vacancy rates and suggests that the vast majority of schools are well-staffed and able to meet the needs of their students.
I am committed to addressing teacher supply and recently announced new teacher supply measures including to help teachers gain permanent roles more quickly and approved the revised Teaching Council Registration Regulations which allows teachers who qualified overseas to undertake their induction in the State for a time-limited period up to 31 December 2027. This measure reinstates a facility that proved valuable during previous years in addressing teacher supply pressures.
Additionally, my Department is about to launch a STEM bursary scheme to encourage more teachers to study STEM subjects. Upskilling programmes have been expanded with new programmes in Irish, French, politics & society, and computer science commencing in 2025 with over 160 teachers registered on these programmes which complement existing programmes in maths, physics, and Spanish. Further expansion of upskilling programmes is under consideration.
My Department is developing a strategic workforce plan for the school workforce which includes a project lead by UNESCO to develop a strategic workforce plan for teachers. A report from UNESCO with recommendations is due in Mid 2026. Also, substitution measures to help schools cover absences have been extended to the next school year.
The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. The Minister for Education and Youth is determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage. The new DEIS plan will be published this year and will include a DEIS plus scheme.
Currently, the DEIS programme supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools reaching approximately 260,000, with an annual investment of over €180 million. Budget 2026 allocates an additional €16 million in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027 to introduce the DEIS plus scheme and support the implementation of the new DEIS plan.
A range of teacher education actions are funded by the department under the Policy on Gaeltacht Education to increase the supply of teachers available to teach effectively through the medium of Irish in Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools.
- Funding is provided for an Irish-medium B.Ed. for primary teachers, which is delivered by Marino Institute of Education. Two cohorts – 68 students in total – have graduated from this programme since its establishment in 2019 and a further 33 will graduate later this month. 173 students are currently enrolled on the programme.
- Funding is also provided for an M.Ed. in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht Education for practicing teachers and school leaders and this programme is currently being delivered by Trinity College Dublin. 48 students are enrolled on this programme for the current academic year.
- Two seconded teachers and COGG bursaries have been provided to support the Máistir Gairmiúil san Oideachas (Irish-medium PME for post-primary teachers) in the University of Galway since 2017. 55 students are enrolled in this programme in the 2025-2026 academic year.
- From this year, support is also being provided to Marino Institute of Education under the new Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht to support them in establishing the Conair Lán-Ghaeilge (Irish-medium pathway) on their PME (primary) programme, which commenced this September. 12 students are currently enrolled on this programme, and it is hoped that this will increase over the coming years.
The Department recognises the importance of providing well-timed and appropriate support to pupils with identified learning needs.
- The Special Education Teaching allocation for mainstream schools provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on the educational needs profile of each school.
- Schools are frontloaded with ring-fenced SET resources for the purpose of supporting pupils with an identified and recorded special education learning need. This allocation allows schools to provide additional teaching support for pupils who require such support in their schools based on each pupil’s individual learning needs.
- It is a matter for schools to deploy SET resources effectively to meet the needs identified in the Student Support Plans, which should be based on the continuum of support framework. Once the Department allocates SET hours to a school it is the responsibility of the school and the board management to utilise the allocation to meet the needs of those students with special educational needs.
The teaching profession is highly attractive, with strong demand for teacher education programmes with 3,600 newly qualified teachers registered in 2025.
- Salaries are competitive currently starting at €44,879 (primary) and €46,448 (post-primary) rising to €85,000 under the current pay deal.
- 6% of first-choice CAO applications for primary or post-primary teaching shows consistent demand from 2017 to 2024. CAO first preference data showed continued increases in teaching programmes of 9% in primary and 5% in post-primary at the closing deadline in February of this year.
- 85% of newly appointed primary teachers in 2024/25 are on full-time, mostly fixed-term contracts. Over 75% of new post-primary teachers are employed full-time. 93% of teachers with 5+ years’ experience hold permanent full-time or pro-rata contracts.
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