234. Deputy Peter Roche asked the Minister for Education and Youth the total expenditure by her Department on campaigns to promote teaching as a profession and to encourage teacher recruitment in each of the years from 2018 to 2025 and to date in 2026, including expenditure under the Teaching Transforms Campaign, by advertising, media placement, digital advertising, creative and production costs, public relations, consultancy and other expenditure; and the total expenditure planned for these purposes in 2027. [66331/26]

239. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Youth the estimated annual expenditure in 2026 on measures specifically designed to address post-primary teacher recruitment and supply, broken down by measure, including promotional campaigns, bursaries, initial teacher education expansion, subject upskilling programmes, recruitment initiatives and other teacher-supply measures; and to compare this with the estimated cost of recognising verified teaching experience in accredited private schools outside the European Union for incremental credit purposes. [66353/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 234 and 239 together.

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.

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, including 1,798 at post primary level and 1,823 at primary level, and CAO data shows a consistent demand for undergraduate ITE programmes. Salaries are competitive, starting at €45,833 (primary) and €47,417 (post-primary) and rising to €84,412 and €86,265 under the current pay deal. Few teachers resign, with less than 3% of the teaching workforce resigning or retiring annually from contracted teaching posts.

An analysis of payroll data from November 2025 shows there are over 75,000 teachers employed in schools across the country, and over 98% of allocated teaching posts are filled nationwide. This includes 34,626 at post primary level, 39,312 at primary level and 1,871 in special schools. 2.5% of allocated posts at primary level and less than 1% of posts at post primary level were unutilised.

Promotion of the profession as a career continues through the Teaching Transforms campaigns. The Teaching Transforms campaign encourages students to follow a career in teaching. The campaign uses digital, radio and video media, and is supported by a dedicated webpage, www.gov.ie/teachingtransforms. Promotion campaigns have been developed to coincide with the CAO closing date and change of mind deadline in recent years.

The table below shows Teaching Transforms expenditure from 2018 to 2026, as well as planned expenditure for 2027.

Three new upskilling programmes in computer science, French, and politics & society were introduced in 2025 and were in addition to existing programmes in Spanish, mathematics, physics and Irish. These flexible programmes, free to registered teachers, boost teachers’ employment opportunities while addressing subject-specific teacher shortages at post-primary level.

The estimated expenditure on the upskilling programmes in Maths, Physics, Spanish, Irish, Politics and Society, French and Computer Science in 2026 is €2.3m.

A STEM Bursary was announced in Budget 2025. This is 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 2 years of teaching post-qualification in a recognised post-primary school. The Department issued Circular 0019/2026 Concurrent Initial Teacher Education Bursary Scheme (STEM Bursary) in January 2026 setting out the eligibility criteria and application process. The estimated expenditure on the STEM Bursary in 2026 is €618,000.

The Department of Education and Youth currently has a scheme in place which allows for teachers who work in an Oireachtas funded teaching post to apply for incremental credit with respect to previous teaching service which they accrued while teaching outside of Ireland. The criteria for the award of incremental credit are set out in the Department’s Circulars 10/2001 for primary teachers, and 29/2007 and 29/2010 for post-primary teachers. The criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers was agreed under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC). These circulars provide for the award of incremental credit in respect of overseas teaching service both within and outside the EU.

A costing of recognising verified teaching experience in accredited private schools outside the European Union for incremental credit purposes has not been undertaken and there are currently no plans to do so.

This Government has implemented several other measures to address teacher supply issues, including measures geared towards teachers overseas, 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.

Turas Abhaile is an initiative of the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS) and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), supported by my Department, which has assisted teachers based abroad to return to teach in Ireland since September 2019. Turas Abhaile matches teachers with specific vacancies and participating schools to facilitate online interviews to suit the preferences of candidates.

My Department recently approved regulations to allow teachers who qualified overseas to undertake their induction in the State. This will help to encourage teachers abroad to return to Ireland to take up teaching roles.

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, has published recommendations for addressing the main factors affecting teacher supply in Ireland. The project report, which was launched on 7th September 2026, can be accessed online at the following link unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000399288.locale=en

Recommendations include measures focused on subject-specific shortages at post-primary, substitute teachers, special education, Irish Medium Education, DEIS primary, cost-of-living concerns, data management and diversity in the profession.