Earlier this year, the Department received a report from a Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, working group containing a proposal about the creation of a national relocation scheme in which teachers could identify locations where they would like to teach and swap with colleagues in those locations. In response to a parliamentary question I submitted to her some time ago, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, outlined that there was a meeting between Department officials and TUI representatives and that the proposal was still being considered. This concerns me because not enough urgency is given to this issue. Schools throughout the country, including in my constituency, Laois-Offaly, are facing a crisis in the context of a lack of teaching staff. Will more urgency and greater priority be given to this issue? The proposal is a solution that addresses the needs of teachers and will also, I hope, address challenges in teacher shortages.

I thank Deputy Nolan for raising the issue. Teacher supply is an issue which my colleague, the Minister, takes seriously. Budget 2024 contains a range of targeted measures aimed at trying to improve teacher supply, including a professional masters of education incentive scheme to be introduced for teachers graduating in 2024 and an expansion of the number of upskilling programmes available in Irish, French, politics and society and computer science. I will ask the Minister for Education to update Deputy Nolan directly on the status of the proposal to which she referred.