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Ireland's Substitute Teacher Shortage: The Statistics Behind the Crisis

Ben Grozier CEO, ClassCover

Published 14 Apr 2026

The Scale of the Crisis

In October 2024, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN), and the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) published the results of a survey covering 565 primary and special schools, representing 40% of all schools in those categories.

The headline figure: 60% of respondents reported being unable to source a substitute teacher for an absence.

The same survey found:

• 951 current staffing vacancies across responding schools at time of survey
• Schools projected a further 1,816 vacancies by January 2025, giving a total projected shortage of 2,767 teachers
• 195 permanent posts unfilled
• 756 long-term temporary or substitute posts unfilled

Source: INTO, IPPN, and CPSMA Teacher Supply Survey, October 2024

The Cork Case Study: 39 Phone Calls

The INTO Cork branch documented what the national figures look like at school level.

107 of 138 Cork schools reported making five or more phone calls to find a single substitute teacher. Four schools reported making up to 39 phone calls for one day of cover.

Thirty-nine phone calls. For one substitute. On one day.

Source: INTO Cork Branch survey, 2024

The Post-Primary Picture

The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), through its Principals' and Deputy Principals' Association (PDA), surveyed 101 second-level schools between November 2025 and January 2026:

• 75% of schools advertised positions for which no teacher applied
• 89% experienced teacher recruitment difficulties
• 19% of schools dropped subjects entirely
• 51% restricted student access to subjects
• 59% have current unfilled vacancies
• Just 6% believe enough is being done at government level

Source: TUI/PDA Teacher Recruitment and Retention Survey, March 2026

Where the Crisis Hits Hardest

Dublin, Wicklow, and Kildare: More than 50% of schools in each county report unfilled teaching posts. Dublin alone has 134 permanent posts vacant early in the 2024/25 school year.

Special schools: 52% have unfilled posts, the highest proportion of any school type.

DEIS schools and Gaelscoileanna report above-average difficulty. Gaelscoileanna face the additional constraint of needing Irish-medium qualified teachers.

Unqualified Substitutes: A System Under Pressure

By mid-October 2024, 745 unqualified individuals were working in substitute capacity in Irish primary and special schools, with 284 of these in Dublin alone.

A TG4 FOI covering 2023/24 found 65% of post-primary schools employed at least one unqualified individual as a substitute, with 4,657 unqualified individuals in substitute roles over the course of that year.

Almost all Irish primary schools employed an unqualified substitute at some point in 2024/25.

The Impact on Students

• 39% of schools split classes into other rooms when no sub was found in the first five weeks of 2024/25
• 59% of schools redeployed Special Education Teachers to cover mainstream absences
• 19% of secondary schools dropped subjects entirely (TUI 2026)
• 51% restricted student access to subjects

The Impact on School Leaders

• 19% of principals made more than 10 attempts to find urgent substitute cover
• 33% described recruitment as extremely stressful
• 86% of primary school leaders rated the Department's response as inadequate

Root Causes (TUI/PDA 2026, ranked)

1. More attractive employment options outside teaching
2. Unavailability of full-hour contracts
3. Accommodation costs near schools
4. Transport costs

76% of secondary leaders believe more could be done to remove barriers for Irish teachers working abroad who want to return.

How ClassCover Fits Into This Picture

ClassCover cannot create substitute teachers that do not exist. No platform can. The shortage documented in this article is structural: too few teachers choosing substitute work, and no infrastructure connecting available teachers to schools that need them.

What a talent marketplace like ClassCover can do is solve the infrastructure problem.

The current system is fragmented. A teacher available to work today may not be on your supply panel. They may not be registered on Sub Seeker. They may be a recently qualified teacher in your county who has not yet connected with any school. Under the current system, that teacher and your school may never find each other.

ClassCover's model is different. Schools and substitute teachers join the same platform. Schools build a prioritised list of teachers they trust and can call on first. Beyond their list, they can reach teachers who are active and available in their area — teachers who may never have appeared through any other channel. The more schools and teachers that join, the more useful the platform becomes for everyone.

In Australia, this has been proven at scale. 1 in 2 Australian schools use ClassCover. The average booking confirmation time is 2 minutes and 17 seconds. The platform covers both teachers and SNAs — something no existing Irish platform does.

ClassCover is launching in Ireland in 2026 and will be the first platform to include SNA bookings alongside teacher bookings. The platform is free for substitute teachers and SNAs. Schools can pre-register now at classcoverapp.com — and the sooner schools and teachers are on the platform, the stronger the local supply network becomes from day one.