'Massive shortage' of substitute teachers due to pandemic, union warns

Kieran Christie, ASTI General Secretary. Picture: Denis Scannell

A “massive shortage” of substitute teachers, most likely in Dublin and cities, awaits schools as they tussle with co-existing with the Covid-19 pandemic, unions have warned.

Representatives from the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Fórsa told a special committee on the pandemic response that a cohort of teachers are at high risk.