A school principal has blamed the housing crisis for creating a shortage of teachers in Dublin.
Clodagh Farrell works as Principal of an Educate Together National School in Dublin and is part of a WhatsApp group for principals looking for staff.
“The last couple of weeks it’s just been non stop,” she told The Hard Shoulder wearily.
“It’s hopping the whole time but it’s more than subbing, it’s fixed term jobs, it’s year-long jobs, it’s maternity leave, it’s long-term jobs that people are looking to fill at the minute.”
Are there enough teachers out there? Ms Farrell’s answer is definitive:
“Definitely not at the moment.”
The huge cost of housing means many young teachers cannot afford or do not want to live in a city where they have to spend so much of their wages on rent.
“[Housing]’s come up time and again over the last couple of years,” she continued.
“There are an awful lot of young teachers who finish college and they can’t afford to live in Dublin.
“They can’t get accommodation so they move back down home or they’ll move outside Dublin and they’ll look for work there.
“I suppose that’s why Dublin and the bigger cities are being particularly hit by this.
“And I guess there are a lot of teachers who are choosing to go abroad for accommodation reasons.”
An apartment development under construction near Griffith Avenue in Dublin, 29-07-2022. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNewsBleak prospects
Earlier this summer a number of teachers told Newstalk that they feared for their future while living in the nation’s capital:
“Where’s our future?” one complained.
“We work hard, we don’t go out, we save every single penny we have, yet there’s virtually no chance of us getting a mortgage in Dublin.”
While others said they were giving serious consideration to emigrating.
Main image: A teacher with school children.
