Richard Bruton seeks €70m more for teacher retirement costs

Education Minister Richard Bruton has insisted that most teaching vacancies are being filled as he sought TDs’ approval for the extra €70m cost of under-estimated teacher retirements.

He attributed his department’s failure to allow for more than half of this year’s 1,773 retirements by teachers and other school staff to a range of factors, including differences in rules on forecasting with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Instead of an original estimate of €1.043bn, the cost of pension payments for teaching and non-teaching staff in primary and second-level schools is now expected to reach €1.114bn for 2017.