517. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of unfilled teaching posts in Dublin north west; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45802/26]

This Government is 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.

As of March 2026, there are over 74,000 teachers employed in Irish schools, including 40,283 at primary level and 34,396 at post-primary level. This analysis found that just 0.1% of allocations (24 posts) in primary and 1.4% of allocations (477 posts) in post-primary were unutilised.

Teaching is an attractive profession, and there are a significant number of newly qualified teachers graduating annually. Over 3,600 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2025 and CAO data shows a consistent demand for undergraduate ITE programmes. Salaries are competitive, currently starting at €45,379 (primary) and €46,948 (post-primary) and rising to €83,576 and €85,411 respectively under the current pay deal. Few teachers resign, with less than 3% of the teaching workforce resigning or retiring annually from contracted teaching posts.

Data published by the Department on unused allocations as of November 2025 is available through the Teacher Workforce Bulletin 2025/26, at this link assets.gov.ie/static/documents/5935f213/Teacher_Workforce_Data_Report_2026.pdf>

This analysis found that just 3.2% of allocations in primary (322.9 FTEs) and 1.9% of allocations (116 FTEs) in post-primary were unutilised in Dublin. Both City of Dublin ETB and Dublin & Dun Laoghaire ETB post-primary schools had a vacancy rate of 0%.

While the relatively low vacancy rate indicates that the vast majority of allocated teaching posts are filled, some schools experience recruitment challenges. This Government has implemented several measures to address teacher supply issues that have led to:

- an increase of 20% in initial teacher education graduates (student teachers) between 2018 and 2023, and

- an over 30% increase in the number of teachers registered with the Teaching Council since 2017.

My Department has recently published revised arrangements for the award of a Contract of Indefinite Duration to?teachers; teachers taking up their first contract in a viable post will be eligible for a permanent position after one year, subject to successful re-appointment through a competitive process.

Recently regulations were approved to allow teachers who qualified overseas to undertake their induction in the State and incremental credit is also available to teachers returning from abroad, depending on the teaching experience gained.

A number of measures have been introduced to address subject-specific teacher shortages:

- STEM Bursary: a €2,000 annual bursary for student teachers in STEM fields during the final two years of their undergraduate teacher education, with a requirement to complete at least two years of teaching post-qualification in a recognised post-primary school.

-Upskilling programmes: free upskilling programmes for teachers are offered in high-demand subjects: Irish, French, politics & society, computer science, maths, physics and Spanish.

A comprehensive workforce plan for the education sector, a commitment under the Programme for Government, is in development. Additionally,?a?project focused on strategic workforce planning for teachers in Ireland, led by UNESCO and supported by the EU Commission, is developing recommendations for addressing the main factors affecting teacher supply in Ireland. The recommendations put forward in the context of the project will form the basis for the development by my Department of a strategic workforce plan for the teaching workforce in Ireland.