267. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to research (details supplied) if her Department has estimated the number of these teachers who have accumulated teaching experience abroad who would not currently qualify for any degree for incremental salary credit on returning to teach in Ireland; if figures can be split between primary and post-primary teachers, country of residence and years of teaching experience; and if no such analysis has been undertaken, whether she will request that such an analysis be carried out as part of the Department's teacher workforce planning. [66444/26]

An analysis of the information on teachers registered on the Teaching Council Register in 2023 was published in December 2025.

The Teaching Council register was compared against several CSO administrative datasets to identify teachers who show no activity in the State. As of October 2023, it was found that most teachers registered with the Teaching Council are present and active in Ireland, with the majority employed by either the Department of Education and Youth (DEY) or Education Training Boards (ETBs) schools.

4,672 teachers (3.9% of registered teachers) showed no signs of activity in the state and could be presumed to be living/working abroad. Of that 3.9%, the following characteristics were found:

• Most are registered through Route 2 (44%) – post primary

• Most are aged between 25 and 34 (59%)

• The largest majority have between 5 and 9-year’s work experience (34%)

However, my Department does not have data in relation to the types of employment which these teachers are undertaking while abroad, or if they are in employment abroad.

My Department does not currently have any plans to conduct research on teachers who show no activity in the State and who may be working, either as a teacher or in another profession, abroad.

My Department continues to engage closely with stakeholders to address teacher supply and retention challenges and is committed to ensuring that every school has the resources needed to provide an excellent education for all students.

The teaching profession is highly attractive, with strong demand for teacher education programmes with over 3,600 newly qualified teachers registered with the Teaching Council in 2025 with over 128,000 on the register. Salaries are competitive, 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.

Around 6% of first-choice CAO applications from 2017–2024 were for teaching, showing steady demand. In 2025, first preferences rose by 9% for primary teaching and 5% for post-primary. 85% of newly appointed primary teachers in 2024/25 are on full-time, mostly fixed-term contracts, 75% of new post-primary teachers are full-time and 93% of teachers with 5+ years’ experience hold permanent full-time or pro-rata contracts.

The Government is committed to the delivery of quality public services and will continue to approach public service pay in a balanced way that is reasonable and fair to both public servants and to the taxpayer. Any further amendments to Teacher Terms and Conditions, including pay and allowances, can only be achieved through engagement and collective bargaining agreements between the Government and the public service unions or through the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC) forum.

In addition, to assist teacher supply, 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 at post-primary level:

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

- 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 2 years of teaching post-qualification in a recognised post-primary school.

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.

My Department will continue to engage with the Education Partners to ensure that teaching remains a highly attractive profession with high levels of newly qualified teachers entering the provision and low levels of resignation from the workforce.

The criteria for the award of incremental credit are set out in the Department of Education’s Circular 10/2001 for Primary teachers, and Circulars 29/2007 and 29/2010 for Post-Primary teachers.

These circulars provide for the award of incremental credit in respect of prior teaching service, including overseas teaching service, both within and outside the EU and/or relevant non-teaching service. Where an application for relevant non-teaching service is made by a teacher, the teacher is required to demonstrate the relevance of such service in relation to the initial subjects they teach following that service. The criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers were agreed under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC).

The award of incremental credit is not an automatic entitlement, applicants must submit a fully completed incremental credit application to have prior service assessed.

My Department does not have information on the number of teachers who may be teaching abroad and who may, or may not, have service that would qualify for an award of incremental credit. Eligibility for an award of incremental credit can only be accessed once an application has been received and examined by my Department.