(Foireann Gaeltachta The Journal a chuir an scéal seo ar fáil. Tá leagan as Gaeilge anseo.) 

THERE ARE FAR more teacher vacancies in Irish-medium, special schools and DEIS schools than in other national schools across the country, the results of a new survey by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) published today have revealed.

While one tenth (10%) of mainstream schools have term-long teacher vacancies, 56% of special schools, 43% of Irish-medium, 35% of DEIS band 2 schools and 32% of DEIS band 1 schools have term-long teacher vacancies.

The INTO worked with the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN)  and the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) to carry out this survey in October.

According to the INTO General Secretary ) John Boyle, the Government is ignoring the number of classrooms that are short of fully qualified teachers.

“A few weeks ago, the Department of Education and Youth had the gall to announce that the number of teaching graduates ‘continues to be sufficient.’” said Boyle.

“They have failed miserably to live up to their claim that they are committed to ensuring that every child has access to qualified and passionate teachers who are committed to supporting their learning.”

According to Boyle, the results of the survey they conducted with the IPPN, to which they received responses from 565 schools, tell a story which is completely different to the Department’s version.

• 19% said they were unable to fill vacancies for permanent, temporary or substitute teaching positions.
• There are currently 234 vacant posts in primary and special schools across the country.
• The highest number of vacancies was in Dublin where 55% of schools had vacancies, including 131 long-term vacancies.
• Wicklow (where there are vacancies in 41% of schools, a total of 14 unfilled posts) and Kildare (vacancies in 39% of schools and 15 vacancies) are the other counties most affected by the teacher shortage.

A total of 336 schools reported that they had been unable to find a replacement to fill a shortage and 56 schools (10%) reported that they had been unable to find a replacement for at least ten days during September.

The practice of splitting classes to compensate for a teacher who did not attend continues with 215 schools reporting that they had split classes and that 735 school days for pupils were disrupted as a result, with only six weeks of the school year having been completed.

Schools in the special education sector are the worst affected by the shortage. In addition to unfilled special school posts, children are more likely to be in classes with people who are not qualified teachers.

There are vacancies in 24 special schools for term-long substitutes and 65% of schools have had to put a special needs teacher in another class due to a teacher being absent.

In three schools, special needs teachers were put in other classes on 51 occasions.

There are 150 hours for part-time teachers in 72 schools that have no one to teach those hours. The vast majority of these involve hours of teaching special needs students, leaving children without essential support.

Another issue that was examined in the survey was the supply teacher panels and it was found that there were 47 unfilled posts on these panels.

According to Boyle, the Department is still denying this and cited the housing crisis as a factor.

Related Reads

'Lack of supports' leads to more students given reduced school hours

Loneliness, heartbreak and exhaustion: Parents begin sleepout to demand special education places

Home by 10am: 'Misuse' of reduced school days leaving a generation of Traveller children 'lost'

“The Government has made it clear that they are happy to run the largest primary classes in Europe and it is clear that this, together with the broken system for providing support from special needs assistants, is having an impact on the supply of teachers.”

The INTO General Secretary recommended that the focus be on attracting teachers to fill posts.

“The local bargaining process has been delayed and this gives the Government an opportunity to restore incentives and create new ones to attract people towards special needs education, education in disadvantaged schools and education through the medium of Irish.”

In response to a query from The Journal a spokesperson for the Department of Education and Youth said more than 75,000 teachers were working across the country with more than 43,000 working in primary schools.

As of March 2025, an analysis of teacher payroll data revealed that only 3.1% of primary-level post, equating to 1,228 positions, were unfilled suggesting that the vast majority of schools are well-staffed and able to meet the needs of their students.

“The data indicates that schools in Gaelscoileanna, DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), and special education settings are performing comparably, or even better, than the overall average in terms of staffing levels.”

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme