A TASKFORCE IS needed to discuss how to tackle the “crisis” of teacher shortages, the Dail has heard.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said principals are struggling to recruit qualified teachers and unqualified teaching staff are being used to keep classrooms open.

New graduates cannot afford to live in cities with teacher vacancies and special education teachers are “plugging personnel gaps”, she added.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said the “vast majority” of allocated teaching posts have been filled and there were 78,646 employed in Ireland as of March.

He said among teachers, there was an average of 1% resignations and less than 2% retirements annually, and the teacher-pupil ratio in primary schools is the lowest it has ever been.

Enrolments at primary school level are projected to decline until 2036, he said.

The Taoiseach admitted there are areas where the population has increased, resulting in a rise in demand for teachers.

He said a new pay deal for teachers will see their starting salary increase to €46,000, rising to a maximum of €85,000 euro.

He added he does see “merit” in holding a Citizens Assembly on education.

“We’ve had quite a lot of them, I’m not a big fan of many more is my truthful view of the world, but I do think there’s so many complexities and important issues in education that it would be good to bring together people to tease through those issues,” he said.

Harris said there could be “some merit” in a taskforce on the “crisis” of teacher shortages.

“There is now a forward planning structure in place in the Department of Education, and when you talk about a taskforce. I think there could well be merit in that.

“But what I would say is, Minister (of State Hildegarde) Naughton has just established a taskforce for special education needs in Dublin 15. Perhaps that could be a model… that we could maybe build on in terms of the rest of the country.”