Schools are being forced to advertise up to three times to find suitable candidates to fill vacant principal posts, according to Irish Primary Principal's Network.
The IPPN says 23 Primary schools nationwide have had to advertise the position of principal a second time in recent months, due to a lack of applications.
It says 19 schools have been forced to advertise the position three times to secure an adequate number of suitably qualified applicants.
The IPPN says its recruitment website, EducationPosts.ie, indicate that an increasing number of class teachers are shunning the position of principal in many schools.
It says July is normally the busiest time of the year for recruitment in schools nationwide.
The website shows that 161 principal posts have been advertised since January.
The IPPN says the number of schools forced to re-advertise has increased by 54% in the last two months.
The IPPN believes that excessive workload and the often dual-role of teaching a class and managing a school is discouraging prospective candidates from applying for principal posts.
Meanwhile, the Primary teacher's union INTO says proposals announced today by Minister for Education and Skills Mary Coughlan would not provide adequate support to newly qualified teachers.
INTO has said that existing supports for many newly qualified teachers, developed over many years, were being 'watered down' and that the Minister was 'turning porridge into gruel.'
The union's deputy general secretary Noel Ward has said that the proposals had more to do with staffing cuts in the Department's inspectorate and financial restraints than with developing an effective system of induction.
INTO have said that the Minister should be providing meaningful supports like mentors in schools, locally based induction activities and reduced teaching time like in other countries.
