Last week, I highlighted an issue that is making teaching highly unattractive and directly impacting on the supply crisis in the education sector, namely, the lack of full-time contracts being offered to new teachers. The Taoiseach replied that we have more teachers in Ireland than ever before, that the pupil-teacher ratio is lower than in the past, that we have a pay deal with teachers and that we are in a period of full employment in the private and public sectors. However, that was not my point. The issue is that only 13% of teachers receive permanent full-time contracts on initial appointment and that only 31% of teachers recruited since 2011 got full hours in their first year of teaching. This was made more evident to me this week. Numerous teachers across all levels of the education sector have reached out to me to highlight the difficulties they face owing to their not receiving full-time contracts. They are employed, but in the absence of full-time contracts they have no creditworthiness to obtain mortgages. After incurring the hardship and financial burden associated with merely obtaining an education, the young people of Ireland are emigrating. Floods of teachers are leaving for other shores, and some for other jobs altogether, because they simply cannot obtain mortgage approval or survive financially on part-time contracts. No wonder they choose to leave. We are crying out for teachers, but, as a direct result of contract issues, teachers have no option but to emigrate.

The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, has confirmed that a pilot scheme, to be rolled out from September, will allow two schools to work together to recruit teachers. Secondary schools have to share teachers due to the critical shortage. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, recently conceded that the employment controls are in need of reform and spoke of starting the journey towards reducing student-staff ratios and improving Ireland’s position in global rankings. Student-staff ratios are at about 20:1 or more in Irish universities by comparison with an international average of about 14:1 or 15:1. While the ratios have improved in primary schools, they are still below par by comparison with elsewhere in Europe. Ireland is in the bottom third in Europe.

The Government needs to act. If nothing is done, we will lose our emerging talent to countries overseas that offer significant incentives in contracts and a better standard of living overall. We need proper action so that we have some chance of retaining our talent. I want the Taoiseach to consider the lived experience of teachers on part-time contracts. I also want him to consider providing the relevant funding and put in place the relevant actions to ensure newly qualified teachers are offered full-time jobs with full-time hours and full-time salaries.

Teachers in my constituency, which comprises Louth and part of east Meath, and elsewhere throughout Ireland deserve better. Will the Taoiseach please invest in our teachers and education system? This is a requirement for child development and teachers’ livelihoods, and for some it is a requirement for their financial and housing commitments. We have a problem, and the Government can solve it.

I thank Deputy Fitzpatrick for raising this important issue. I acknowledge, on behalf of the Government, that we have a very genuine teacher recruitment and retention challenge. I also acknowledge that this is not unique. We are in a period of full employment. There is no sector of the economy in which we do not have labour shortages. Whether it is well-paid jobs or poorly paid jobs, the public and private sectors are affected. When there is full employment, it is hard to recruit and retain staff. As the Deputy mentioned, the trend is certainly not unique to Ireland. The reason Irish teachers and professionals go abroad is that the countries they go to do not have enough professionals either. We see shortages all over the world. Countries such as Australia and the United Arab Emirates - you name it - are short of teachers too.

It is important to put this matter in a factual context. We have 72,000 full-time equivalent teachers in Ireland. Five years ago, we had 64,000. Therefore, in the past five years we have increased the number of teachers by 8,000. If there is an impression that there are fewer teachers than there used to be or more leaving than coming, it is false. We have gone from 64,000 teachers five years ago to 72,000. That is a big increase in the number employed. We are having genuine success in recruiting and retaining teachers, notwithstanding the challenge that arises and that the Deputy just mentioned.

As of October, the starting salary for teachers stands at €41,000 per year. Across the Border in County Down, not far from where the Deputy lives, the starting salary for a teacher is €27,000 per year. The cost of living in Northern Ireland is lower but it is not that much lower. This gives an idea of what we are doing to make the profession attractive.

On contracts, I am told recruitment and the appointment of teachers are a matter for each school or education and training board, as an employer. Teachers can be recruited on a permanent basis once a school or education and training board is within its authorised allocation of teaching posts and the criteria outlined in the Department circulars on filling posts are complied with.

We have a public sector pay deal. It was agreed not that long ago and voted on by public servants, including teachers. They voted for it by a very large margin. That agreement will come to an end in October. I have no doubt that, come summer, we will want to engage with the public service unions again on the next pay deal. We will certainly be very willing to listen to their suggestions on what we can do in the context of the overall package that will be available.

The Taoiseach basically gave me the same answer I got last week. I have asked a simple question. I come from Dundalk, County Louth, and have spoken to many teachers in recent weeks. I received numerous phone calls from people across the country last week in respect of this matter. People are going to college and paying massive amounts of money to be educated to become teachers. They want to teach in their own country but the number of full-time jobs up for grabs at the moment is practically zero. Only 13% of teachers are offered full-time jobs after they qualify. It can take two to six years to get a full-time job. In these years, teachers will be settling down and starting families. In the two or three months when they are off on their holidays, they do not get paid. They are looking for mortgages. I ask the Government please to help them out.

Many of these qualified teachers are going to other jobs. We see emigration at the moment, and we see the housing situation. At the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis last November, the Taoiseach promised to look after young people by helping them to get their own homes. These young people have put their hands in their pockets and are looking for jobs. It is a very simple situation. During the pandemic, they were offered full-time jobs but now it has gone back to the way it was previously. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Education can help these young teachers with their contracts.

I hear what the Deputy is saying about housing. It bothers me deeply that so many young and even not so young people find it so difficult to buy their first home. What gives me great encouragement is that we are now seeing about 400 first-time buyers per week, a really encouraging figure that is the highest since the Celtic tiger period. Because couples are counted as one person and because it does not include those building their own home, that figure is an underestimate. The number of first-time buyers every week is probably way more than 400 but I am using that figure to be on the safe side. A big catch-up is ahead of us but we are catching up and that is extremely encouraging.

We are not doing all that badly when it comes to teachers. There are 72,000 teachers in the country up from only 64,000 in 2017 so the numbers are going in the right direction. The starting salary is €41,000, which is much higher than it is in other countries. It certainly compares favourably to most other European countries. It is hard to compete with mineral-rich and oil-rich countries but that is the reality. We will have an engagement with the teachers' unions and the public service unions and are keen to speak to them in the summer and hear their ideas about what we can do as part of the new pay deal, which will succeed the current one come October.