Verbatim report of proceedings

Thursday, 8 February 2024 - Strasbourg

Working conditions of teachers in the EU (debate)

  Mick Wallace (The Left). – Mr President, In Ireland we have a serious teacher shortage also.

Many schools say they have been forced to plug staffing gaps by redeploying special education teachers. This will have a devastating impact on more vulnerable pupils. Now we have plenty of people qualifying as teachers in Ireland, and the problem is not the profession: the problem is the chronic lack of accommodation in the country. Many teachers have no option but to move abroad.

Sadly, this has all been self-inflicted by successive Irish governments implementing neoliberal housing policies. Between 2002 and 2022, wages in Ireland increased by 27 %, residential property prices increased by 75 % over the same period and rents increased by 90 %. The average Dublin rent is now over EUR 2 000 a month, and that’s equivalent to the entire monthly take-home pay of a newly qualified teacher.

Newly qualified teachers in Ireland earn EUR 41 000 per year, but the average salary needed to buy a three-bed home in the Greater Dublin area is EUR 126 000. We have a big problem.