Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 July 2026
99. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Youth the key measures taken to improve employment conditions for teachers since January 2025; her priorities for same for the rest of 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51943/26]
View answerThis 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. According to the latest published figures from November 2025, there are over 75,000 teachers employed in schools across the country and over 98% of allocated teaching posts are filled.
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.
In April 2025, Minister McEntee announced a reduction in the period of time for a teacher to become eligible for the award of a CID. The reduction, from a period of continuous employment of two years to a period of continuous employment of one year, is a significant improvement to the employment conditions of teachers. The Circulars giving effect to this amendment were published in February 2026.
The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants and new entrant pay has been gradually restored over the years.
The Public Service Pay Agreement 2024-2026 (PSA) builds on improvements to pay for teachers that were made in previous pay agreements. It provides for further baseline increases of 9.25% for over 100,000 staff in the school sector with lower paid workers receiving higher percentage increases.
By the end of this agreement, these increases would increase the pay of a teacher on the top point of the teacher pay scale to around €85,000 per annum. The starting pay for a teacher will be around €46,000 per annum, which is almost €20,000 higher than the 2011 rates.
The following general round pay increases were awarded to teachers in 2025 and 2026 under the PSA:
2025
• A general round increase in annualised basic salary for all public servants of 2% or €1,000, whichever is greater, on 1st March 2025.
• A general round increase in annualised basic salary for all public servants of 1% on 1st August 2025.
2026
• A general round increase in annualised basic salary for all public servants of 1% or €500, whichever is greater, on 1st February 2026.
• A general round increase in annualised basic salary for all public servants of 1% on 1st June 2026.
In addition, the PSA provides that employers and trade unions/associations may negotiate additional changes in rates of pay and/or conditions of employment up to a maximum of 3% of the basic pay cost, under Local Bargaining, (1% of this being payable with effect from 1 September, 2025), inclusive of allowances in the nature of pay of the particular grade, group or category of employee or bargaining unit. This may include proposals involving changes in structures, work practices, or other conditions of service.
The INTO has opted to use their Local Bargaining Fund to settle a number of claims outlined in Department of Education and Youth Circular_0054_2026, as follows:
i) An allowance for Primary Teachers working in schools recognised as Gaeltacht Schools under the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme (GSRS)
ii) An allowance for Primary Teachers working in Gaelscoileanna
iii) An allowance for Teachers working in Special Schools
iv) A living Islands Allowance for Primary Teachers working on offshore islands
v) An allowance for Primary Teachers working in schools designated as DEIS Band One and DEIS Plus Schools
vi) An increase to the Primary Principal Teacher Allowance
Post Primary Teachers also have 1% of basic pay cost payable from 1 September, 2025 under Local Bargaining.
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.
