Eight hundred teaching posts in primary schools here are unfilled as a result of the shortage of school teachers, according to a survey carried out by primary teacher union the INTO, in conjunction with a school principals organisation and Catholic primary school managers.
The INTO says schools surveyed have also indicated that they anticipate having an additional 1,200 vacancies within the next three months.
The survey has confirmed that Dublin and other urban areas are being disproportionately affected, with 63% of all vacancies in county Dublin.
Disadvantaged schools, Gaelscoileanna and special schools are also experiencing particular difficulties finding teachers.
1,094 primary and special schools responded to the survey which was carried out in the first week of October. This represents 35% of all schools in these sectors.
The INTO said the demographics of the schools that responded were broadly reflective of the primary education sector as a whole.
While 28% of all participating schools reported long-term vacancies, that percentage rose to 50% of the country's most disadvantaged DEIS schools and Gaelscoileanna, and to 43% of special schools.
Two-thirds of primary schools responded that they had used a Special Education Teacher (SET) to cover for an absence and 61 schools responded that they had used a SET teacher for more than 20 days by the end of the first month of the school year.
The INTO said this indicates the impact that the teacher shortage is having on special education provision.
"The findings prove beyond any doubt that planning for teacher supply in the primary and special education sectors is failing and it is pupils with the greatest needs who are most adversely impacted," the INTO said.
"School principals have indicated clearly that the lack of short-term substitutes is already much more severe this year and that they have never before witnessed such massive numbers of longer-term vacancies."
In relation to long-term vacancies, the INTO said that just 72% of the schools who responded had been able to fill all their vacancies, with 306 schools still having vacant posts.
One school had nine vacant permanent posts and another had eight.
212 schools had long-term substitute vacancies, with 10 schools having four vacant substitute posts, and 18 having three.
34% of the special schools in the survey had vacant permanent posts.
Of the 109 DEIS band 1 schools that responded, there were 45 vacant permanent posts, 81 fixed-term posts and 55 unfilled substitute posts.
In the 53 Gaelscoileanna that responded, there were 18 permanent and 18 fixed-term posts vacant as well as 34 vacant long-term substitute posts.
Blaming the impact of the housing crisis and escalating living costs on the recruitment and retention of teachers, the union’s Deputy General Secretary Deirdre O’Connor said "all options must actively be explored to ensure that no child is left without a qualified teacher".
"Other countries are incentivising Ireland’s primary teachers to work overseas, and the Department of Education is failing to convince them that they are valued here. As a result, our most vulnerable pupils are losing out."
The survey was carried out in conjunction with the Irish Primary Principals Network and the Catholic Primary School Managers Association.
The CPSMA said the teacher shortage was "without doubt the single greatest challenge facing primary education".
'Majority of teachers positions filled'
Responding to the survey a Department of Education spokesperson said that "while schools in certain locations are experiencing challenges in both recruiting teachers and obtaining substitute teachers, the vast majority of sanctioned teacher positions are filled".
The Department said the "rate of resignation and retirement is very low by any standard and is consistent with previous years".
It said while recruitment of teachers is ongoing, "it is not possible at this stage to advise on the current number of vacant teaching positions".
The Department spokesperson said a range of measures were announced in Budget 2024 that will result in targeted measures to address recruitment issues.
"Also, an additional 1,000 posts of responsibility will be provided in the school system for the 2024/25 school year," the spokesperson said.
"At primary level, 610 additional places have been approved on initial teacher education programmes for this and the next academic year (2023/24 and 2024/25).
"In 2023, more than 2,700 student teachers registered with the Teaching Council and provided valuable support to schools as substitute teachers.
"Restrictions on job-sharing teachers from working as substitutes have been reduced. These teachers may be employed to work as substitutes during the period they are rostered off duty.
"Limits on substitute work applying to teachers on career break have also been suspended."
In Special Education, the Department said "schools are frontloaded with ring-fenced SET resources" and that "close to 20,000 SEN teachers and 21,000 SNAs" have been funded across the education system.
