Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 January 2026
1127. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the circumstances under which the Teaching Council may accept complaints without the school’s internal procedure being fully exhausted; and whether legislative changes are needed to ensure timely intervention in cases of serious concern; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [74776/25]
View answerThe Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with: www.teachingcouncil.ie/assets/uploads/2025/10/SI.2025.0482_TC_Registration_Regulations.pdf
As set out in the Schedule to the Regulations, the Council registers teachers under five routes of registration: Route 1 - Primary, Route 2 - Post-primary, Route 3 - Further Education, Route 4 - Other and Route 5 - Student Teacher. The qualification requirements for each route are set down in the Schedule to the Regulations.
The Teaching Council is the regulator of the teaching profession in Ireland. Its role is to protect the public by promoting and regulating professional standards in teaching. This is discharged through the statutory registration of teachers, ensuring a highly qualified teaching profession, whose members meet and uphold high standards of professional competence and conduct. The Department has no role in the registration of individual teachers.
As a statutory professional standards body, the Teaching Council is required by law to properly determine and to authenticate the relevant standards and qualifications of all applicants for registration. One of the ways the Council ensures and regulates standards is by ensuring that all teachers entering the profession in the Republic of Ireland have met the required standards.
Part 5 of the Teaching Council Acts allows the Teaching Council to receive complaints about registered teachers, and to conduct investigations and hold inquiries, where deemed appropriate.
Any person, including members of the public, employers and other teachers may make a complaint about a registered teacher. In addition, the Teaching Council can itself make a complaint about a registered teacher.
The Teaching Council Act at Section 37 provides for notifications to be made to the Council by schools in certain circumstances where a teacher resigns or is dismissed, including following the making of a complaint. The information to be provided and the circumstances comprehended are contained in S.I. No. 230 of 2023 TEACHING COUNCIL (INFORMATION TO BE FURNISHED BY EMPLOYER IN CASE OF DISMISSAL OR RESIGNATION OF REGISTERED TEACHER) REGULATIONS 2023. Such notifications may result in a Fitness to Teach inquiry, following consideration by the Investigating Committee of the Council.
In general, the Council’s Investigating Committee can consider complaints under a number of grounds including professional misconduct and poor professional performance. Please note that all registered teachers are expected to comply with: www.teachingcouncil.ie/fitness-to-teach/updated-code-of-professional-conduct/
It is important to note that the Council can only investigate complaints relating to currently registered teachers.
The Code sets out the standards of professional knowledge, skill, competence and conduct which are expected of registered teachers. The standards are underpinned by four core values – respect, care, integrity and trust, and reflect the complexity of teaching.
All complaints will be considered in accordance with the Teaching Council Acts, 2001 – 2015 and procedures and rules approved by Council.
One of the first steps that will usually be taken by the Investigating Committee is to ascertain if the complaint has been or is being dealt with at local level within the school (i.e. with the Principal or Board of Management (BoM) or the Chief Executive in the case of an Education and Training Board school). If school disciplinary procedures (established under section 24 of the Education Act, 1998) have not been exhausted, then the Investigating Committee is required to refuse the complaint in accordance with the provisions of the Teaching Council Acts, unless in the Committee’s view, there are good and sufficient reasons to proceed to consider the complaint notwithstanding the fact that school procedures have not been exhausted. Both the school’s process and the Council’s complaint process are independent of each other and have different purposes. It is for the Investigating Committee to determine whether those good and sufficient reasons exist. However, this could for example, include complaints where the conduct complained of is, in the view of the Investigating Committee, of a serious nature. This could arise for example where complaints raise child protection concerns.
For a complaint to be referred by the Investigating Committee to the Disciplinary Committee, the complaint must be of a serious nature. The standard of proof at a Fitness to Teach inquiry currently is the criminal standard of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ so all allegations at inquiry must be proven to this standard. Any of the more serious sanctions imposed following an inquiry must be confirmed by the High Court.
If a person wishes to make a complaint about a registered teacher, they should first read the Frequently Asked Questions on the Council’s website before submitting a completed and signed 'Complaint Form' in respect of each teacher they wish to make a complaint about (the Complaint From can be found on the Teaching Council website). The Teaching Council Acts require that complaints must be presented in writing and be signed. The complainant should outline the specific conduct which is alleged against the teacher in question. Please note that in terms of fair procedures, copies of a complaint and all the documents received in relation to a complaint are sent to the teacher the subject of that complaint.
The Investigating Committee can consider complaints about certain matters that relate to conduct outside the course of the registered teacher's profession on grounds such as convictions for certain offences, and where the conduct is of such a serious nature as would bring the profession into disrepute.
If a person is concerned that children or vulnerable persons are, or may be, at risk of harm they should inform Tusla - the Child and Family Agency, An Garda Siochána and/or the relevant school, as appropriate.
