Victor Boyhan warns of teacher shortages, urges action on rural housing
Victor Boyhan warned of acute teacher shortages affecting special schools, DESH schools and Irish-medium education and urged the minister to act quickly. He highlighted a survey showing one in five schools could not fill posts, with Dublin especially affected due to accommodation costs.
INTO briefing and school staffing
The speaker welcomed the INTO and noted their publication Our Children, Our Future, Supporting Primary and Special Education. He commended the INTO general secretary John Boyle and president Anne Horne for ongoing engagement and said the document set out significant concerns about staff shortages.
Teacher supply crisis
He cited a recent survey by INTO, the Irish Primary Principals Network and the Catholic Primary School Management Association that revealed one in five schools could not fill posts. He said shortages are particularly acute in Dublin and stressed that substitute teachers, special needs teachers and special classroom assistants are now supervising classrooms in the absence of teachers - a situation he called a crisis.
Call for ministerial action
He said he wished the new minister well but urged her to engage quickly on teacher supply problems. He repeatedly pressed for urgent discussion on why vacancies persist and on measures to support recruitment and retention, particularly where accommodation costs are a factor.
Rural housing and planning statement
Referencing a commencement matter raised by Senator D. Ryan, he urged colleagues to address rural housing and one-off rural homes as part of a broader housing strategy. He noted that, as confirmed by the minister, the aspiration is to have a national planning statement by the end of 2026 and encouraged members to raise the issue at parliamentary party meetings.
Library and research invitation
He commended the parliamentary library and research team as an independent, validated service that supports members with accurate information and helps counter misinformation. He highlighted an open invitation from the team available until one o'clock this morning in the coffee dump and encouraged colleagues to visit if they could spare a few moments.
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It's a spring day, and I'm just overcome with the promotion for Fibsborough. I'll have to make a trip out there myself. And I wish you well in the by-election, and I wish whoever follows Inishana by-election every successful, but it's great to see such a robust, positive contribution, and I wouldn't have an issue with any of it. So thanks, Senator Fitzpatrick. Look, on a more serious note, I want to welcome the INTO here, just their magazine. We'd all be familiar, we get their INTO magazine, and, of course, they had this document, Our Children, Our Future, Supporting Primary and Special Education. And I suppose what struck me when I turned the pages yesterday of their magazine, which we would have all received, was that the INTO talked about their very significant concerns about staff shortages, particularly in special schools, the DESH schools, Irish medium education, and citing the crisis of teacher supply, particularly in Dublin, which is a particular issue because of the cost of accommodation. So a recent INTO, Irish Primary Principals Network, and the Catholic Primary School Management Association conducted a survey, and it revealed that one of five schools couldn't fill posts, and that was particularly acute in Dublin, and we know why. And so I want to wish Hildegard Nocton well as the new minister, I heard her on Morning Ireland today, setting out all sorts of ambitions and excitement, and I wish her genuinely well. But I think we need her in here quick. We need to talk about the shortest, why substitute teachers and special needs teachers and special classroom assistants are now supervising classrooms in the absence of teachers. And that is a crisis. And, you know, key priorities must be for education, and particularly children. I'd like to also salute the INTO General Secretary, John Boyle, and, of course, Anne Horne, their president, for their ongoing engagement with the OOCTIS. Secondly, I'd like to reference Senator D. Ryan this morning had a commencement matter about rural housing, and I commend her for doing so. She raised the exact issues that I did and went on with more, and gave really good examples of how we could address rural housing. And to suggest that all we can have at the end of all of this in the current plan, as the minister confirmed, and I have his response in front of me, that at the end of 2026 we would aspire to have a national planning statement. And I think, and I would appeal to every member who has a parliamentary party meeting this evening in Leinster House to bring it up there, if you can, to raise it. Because I know everyone is genuinely concerned. We have to address rural housing and one-off rural housing as part of a measure, a suite of measures, to address housing. We need housing at all options, and we need every possible opportunity. So I want to raise that. And finally, I would like to commend to the colleagues here today that our library and research team have a platform and an open invitation this morning from now till one o'clock. I've been, there were a few, they were hoping more would come, and they want to engage with people about their enormous work and their support for us. And we couldn't, I certainly couldn't do my work without them. It's an independent, validated service that's full of integrity, and I think it assists us with accurate information. We talk about AI and false information or misinformation. This organisation serves us with distinction. It serves us well. And I would encourage members, if they can spare a few moments in their busy schedule this morning, because they're only there till one o'clock, that they may visit them in the coffee dump.
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