Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2026
524. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will consider greater flexibility with the pension abatement for post-primary teachers by extending the 50-day waiver, with a view of helping schools find substitute teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45942/26]
View answerSection 52(1) of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 provides that abatement shall apply where a public service pensioner is re-appointed to the public service. The purpose of abatement is to ensure that a retired public servant who returns to employment does not, in general, receive more in combined pension and remuneration than the pensionable remuneration they would have received had they remained in their former post.
A waiver of abatement was approved by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, for a limited period, to alleviate the teacher supply difficulties. The abatement waiver is applied to the first 50 days worked in any calendar year; Once a retired teacher exceeds the 50-day threshold, a full assessment of their pay and pension is undertaken to determine whether abatement applies, in accordance with the statutory provisions. The current waiver arrangements remain in place until 31 December 2027.There are no plans to extend the 50-day waiver or to amend the current administrative practices.
With regard to substitute cover, there are a range of measures in place to improve the availability of substitutes to schools.
Substitutable leave absences may be filled by schools in several ways.?
A substitute teacher may be recruited locally by a school, and a claim for payment for the teacher may be submitted to my Department, via the Online Claims System.
Alternatively, the absence may be covered by schools under a number of schemes, which are managed locally by schools.? The Supervision and Substitution Scheme allows for the supervision of students during breaks and before and after school and allows for substitution to cover certain categories of teacher absences. With effect from the beginning of the 2013/14 school year, participation in the Supervision and Substitution scheme is compulsory for teachers, save for those who had availed of the opt-out arrangements before this date.?All schools therefore provide cover for a significant number of substitutable absences, arising over the school year, through the Supervision and Substitution scheme.?
The Department also continued the suspension of the usual limits on career break and job-sharing schemes to the current school year 2025/26 to increase the pool of teachers available to undertake substitute work in primary and post-primary schools.
