Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
481. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide a breakdown of the school teacher vacancies in schools, by primary and secondary education and by county, in each of the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form. [73838/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis Government is fully 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.
To address teacher supply issues, my Department has implemented several measures that have led to:
• an increase of 20% in initial teacher education graduates (student teachers) between 2018 and 2023, and
• over 30% increase in the number of teachers registered with the Teaching Council since 2017.
The Department is currently producing a range of data on teacher supply to improve the understanding of the teacher supply landscape. My Department has recently published three reports: an analysis of the Teaching Council register, unmet demand in post-primary schools and on substitute teachers which are here: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/collections/other-statistical-reports/#teacher-demand-and-supply
An analysis of teacher payroll data, as of March 2025, shows there are 79,225 teachers employed in our schools across the country with 43,221 at primary level including special schools and 36,004 in post-primary schools.
The Department does not collate data available for the years 2020 to 2025. However, the analysis of the teacher payrolls for March 2025, showed the following unutilised allocated teaching posts in primary and post-primary schools per county:
Table: Unutilised Teaching Posts as at March 2025
|
County |
Primary Unutilised Posts |
Post-primary Unutilised Posts |
Total Unutilised Posts |
|
Carlow |
16.5 |
6.1 |
22.6 |
|
Cavan |
14.8 |
11.6 |
26.4 |
|
Clare |
19.2 |
14.1 |
33.3 |
|
Cork |
137.7 |
93.8 |
231.4 |
|
Donegal |
21.9 |
53.8 |
75.7 |
|
Dublin |
512.1 |
120.9 |
633.0 |
|
Galway |
32.8 |
25.1 |
57.9 |
|
Kerry |
9.8 |
37.2 |
47.0 |
|
Kildare |
93.0 |
18.9 |
111.9 |
|
Kilkenny |
15.6 |
19.1 |
34.7 |
|
Laois |
24.9 |
9.6 |
34.4 |
|
Leitrim |
6.0 |
6.6 |
12.6 |
|
Limerick |
20.8 |
18.0 |
38.9 |
|
Longford |
5.0 |
-2.4 |
2.6 |
|
Louth |
36.5 |
-13.5 |
23.0 |
|
Mayo |
27.3 |
17.1 |
44.4 |
|
Meath |
54.0 |
53.4 |
107.4 |
|
Monaghan |
7.9 |
2.6 |
10.5 |
|
Offaly |
12.7 |
8.2 |
20.9 |
|
Roscommon |
1.0 |
15.4 |
16.4 |
|
Sligo |
14.1 |
18.7 |
32.8 |
|
Tipperary |
22.5 |
27.5 |
50.0 |
|
Waterford |
20.9 |
15.8 |
36.7 |
|
Westmeath |
26.9 |
8.6 |
35.4 |
|
Wexford |
36.3 |
11.0 |
47.3 |
|
Wicklow |
37.6 |
24.2 |
61.8 |
|
Total |
1227.7 |
621.4 |
1849.1 |
The Department provides a range of measures to address teacher supply. The Department announced new measures in 2025 including assisting teachers gain permanent roles more quickly and approving regulations recently to allow teachers who qualified overseas to undertake their induction in the State.
Measures including a STEM bursary, an expansion of upskilling programmes, improving the availability of substitution, continuing the promotion of teaching as a profession and the development of teacher workforce planning are underway.
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 127,000 on the register. Salaries are competitive, starting at €44,879 (primary) and €46,448 (post-primary) and rising to €85,000 under the current pay deal. Few teachers resign: less than 3% of the teaching workforce resign or retire 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 addition to the recently announced measures, the Department will continue to consider further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce and ensure that schools have the support needed to provide an excellent education for every student.
