Last week, I raised with the Taoiseach the 800 vacant posts across primary schools. Today, the TUI has sounded a warning in regard to the recruitment and retention of teachers in secondary schools across the State. The union's survey shows that 89% of schools experienced recruitment problems in the past six months, 61% of schools are having difficulty holding on to staff and students are being forced to drop subjects as a result. The cuts imposed during the austerity era are now compounded by the housing and cost of living crises, in particular the housing crisis.

Teachers cannot afford to rent or buy a home close to where they work. Many are responding to this reality by opting to work overseas, but we need them in our education system.

I asked the Taoiseach about primary school teachers last week. This week, I am asking about secondary school teachers. What will the Government do that is different and additional to address the housing needs of these teachers?

The starting salary for a teacher in Ireland is now over €41,000 and is significantly higher than the equivalent figure in Northern Ireland or Britain, for example. An extra 3,700 newly qualified teachers have registered with the Teaching Council this year and there are now more than 120,000 teachers registered to work in Ireland.

Budget 2024 contains a range of targeted teacher supply measures. These include a professional master of education incentive scheme, which will be introduced for teachers graduating in 2024. Subject to some conditions, there will be an incentive payment of €2,000, which will be paid to eligible primary and secondary teachers. There will also be an expansion in upskilling programmes for subjects where it has been difficult to recruit teachers, like Irish, French, politics and society, and computer science.