Almost 2,000 vacant teacher posts symptom of government failure, says Cummins

1,847 teaching posts are vacant nationwide and have yet to be filled ahead of the upcoming academic year.

This statistic, according to Social Democrats TD and education spokesperson Jen Cummins, is a symptom of the government’s failure in the education system.

“The teacher shortage crisis is symptomatic of a lack of forward planning across government departments – it is entirely avoidable,” the Dublin South Central TD said.

“Year after year we hear the same warnings, and yet the same failures persist. It is abundantly clear that the Government has no credible strategy to ensure that our schools are adequately staffed.”

Cummins said “this is simply not good enough – temporary measures and short-term fixes are no substitute for long-term, sustainable workforce planning.”

“It’s deeply concerning that the number of qualified teachers choosing to emigrate continues to rise, driven by unaffordable living costs and a housing crisis that has left many unable to remain in the communities they trained to serve – this is a real and growing threat to the quality of education available to our children.”

The Soc Dems education spokesperson said “a coordinated, whole-of-government response that acknowledges the interconnected nature of public service provision and living standards must be prioritised – we cannot speak about teacher shortages if we are unwilling to make it feasible for graduates to live and work in this country.”

Cummins noted the case of Belgrove Girls’ Infant School in Clontarf, which is attemtping to raise €60,000 to privately fund a teacher after the role was blocked by the school’s patron body.

“When parents are forced to crowdfund for a teacher that their school urgently needs, it lays bare just how dysfunctional the system has become,” Cummins said.

“The Programme for Government includes a commitment to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level to 19:1 over this term, but in this instance, we are seeing a class set to have a ratio of 35:1,” she pointed out.

“That is totally unacceptable. If the Government fails to act now, this will not be an isolated case. No parent should have to fundraise for basic educational provision, and no child should be subjected to overcrowded classrooms because of chronic underplanning and inaction.

“The government must bring forward a detailed strategy to enhance the recruitment and retention of teachers, supported by meaningful action on housing affordability and cost-of-living pressures – our children, our teachers, and our schools deserve better than this.”