Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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500. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason it is not possible to transfer permanency of teacher posts from one school to another; the reason a teacher must resign from his or her current post and begin the process again in a new school to gain permanency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61270/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for the individual school authority, as the employer, subject to procedures agreed under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012).

The deployment of teaching staff in the school, the range of subjects offered and ultimately the quality of teaching and learning are in the first instance a matter for the school management authorities.

Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to school managements annually and are available on the Department website.

Redeployment arrangements are in place with the core function of the redeployment arrangements being to facilitate the redeployment of surplus permanent teachers to other schools where vacancies exist. Ensuring efficiency in the annual redeployment processes is significant in terms of managing the overall teacher numbers.

At Post-Primary level, following discussions between the relevant stakeholders a voluntary redeployment scheme has operated on a pilot basis in specific regions in recent years. Permanent teachers employed in these regions are given an opportunity to volunteer for a transfer to other areas of the country only if such a transfer would free up a vacancy that would facilitate the redeployment of a surplus permanent teacher in the region.

The key purpose of the pilot voluntary redeployment scheme is to assist the Department to achieve its objective of redeploying all surplus permanent teachers. To-date the pilot voluntary redeployment scheme has operated in 24 counties.

Teachers who apply under the pilot voluntary scheme and are not facilitated with a transfer continue to have the option of applying for posts in their preferred location that are advertised in the normal manner.

Arrangements for the pilot voluntary redeployment scheme for the 25/26 school year were published by my Department in February 2025 with completed application forms having to be returned to the Department by the 14th of March 2025.

Teachers who seek to resign from their post in their current school, and who seek employment as a teacher in another school, will be able to avail of the revised criteria for the award of a Contract of Indefinite Duration (CID) where, subject to meeting the relevant criteria, will be eligible for an award of a CID after a period of 1 year of continuous employment in the school, subject to the school having a viable post in the following school year and where the teacher has been reappointed following a competitive interview process at the end of that first year.

Teachers who are successfully appointed to another school will retain their pay and conditions of employment where they satisfy the relevant criteria.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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501. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of teachers working within special schools, primary schools and secondary schools in the State who currently do not have permanent status. [61271/25]

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.

There are more qualified teachers than ever working in schools with over 97% of allocated teaching posts filled according to an analysis of the teacher payroll in March 2025. The analysis found that there were 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.

As with other sectors of the economy, recruitment challenges exist. To address these, several targeted measures have been implemented that have led to:

an increase of 20% in Initial Teacher Education graduates between 2018 and 2023;

an over 30% increase in the number of teachers registered with the Teaching Council between 2017 and 2025; and

an increase in allocated teaching posts of 11,752 between 2018/19 and 2024/25.

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).

While my Department does not have data on the number of teachers on permanent contracts at this point, an analysis of the March 2025 teacher payrolls showed there were 5,857 teachers on fixed term contracts working in primary schools (including 361 working in special schools). There were 3,993 fixed term teachers working in post primary schools, excluding education and training board (ETB) schools.

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.

To address the challenges that exist in some schools, I announced that teachers will be able to gain permanent roles more quickly and also recently approved regulations to allow teachers who qualified overseas to undertake their induction in the State.

Additionally, my Department is about to launch a STEM bursary scheme, is considering a further expansion of upskilling programmes, will provide over 1,000 additional teaching posts announced in Budget 2026, and is developing a strategic workforce plan for schools. These measures reflect my commitment to developing our education system.

The teaching profession is highly attractive, with strong demand for teacher education programmes with 3,600 newly qualified teachers registered in 2025. CAO first preference data illustrates increased demand in teaching programmes of 9% in primary and 5% in post-primary at the closing deadline in February of this year. Salaries are competitive, starting at €44,879 (primary) and €46,448 (post-primary) and rising to €85,000 under the current pay deal.

My Department frequently consults and engages closely with stakeholders on teacher supply issues through industrial relations forums, sectoral meetings, and direct discussions. I am considering further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce that will ensure that schools have the support needed to provide an excellent education for every student.