A Dublin school principal has branded as "a disgrace" the Department of Education's response to the teacher shortage crisis.
Tonya Hanly said she was obliged yesterday to send home two teachers who are subbing at the school because the department has said she cannot employ them.
The two young teachers were working at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Dublin 8 last year, but have taken career breaks this year and plan to go to Australia in two months' time.
They are leaving Ireland because they say they cannot afford to live in Dublin.
The teachers agreed to work as substitute teachers for a few weeks because the school has been unable to fill seven vacancies.
Ms Hanly said that despite numerous attempts she cannot find teachers to fill the positions.
"We advertised about five times. I interviewed three times. I'm on teacher WhatsApp groups. I have gotten on to the teacher training colleges. But I just can’t find teachers," she said.
Ms Hanly said all seven vacancies are in the area of Special Education (SET).
She said this was because she had been obliged to transfer teachers from these positions in order to ensure she has enough classroom teachers, which means children with special education needs are losing out.
Yesterday, the Department of Education informed her that it cannot pay the two teachers.
It said under the rules teachers who are on career break can only provide substitute cover for positions that become vacant as a result of maternity or sick leave.
The positions that Our Lady of Lourdes needs to fill are all for full-time fixed-term work.
"I have only three SET teachers where I should have ten," the principal of this disadvantaged school said.
"These are children who need but haven't received services like speech therapy and occupational therapy so they really need assistance from us, in terms of their literacy and in numeracy, also in communication, how to communicate effectively with their peers for instance.
"Because of our demographics we have a lot of very vulnerable children and a lot of children in the tenth percentile [of ability].
"We are in the middle of a national [teacher shortage] crisis. We knew it was coming and I have been asking the department since last June what are they going to do to alleviate it.
"They have no idea what’s going on, on the ground, in schools like ours."
The department said that because a career break is a period of special leave without pay, a teacher absent on career break may not be employed in an approved teaching or special needs post funded by monies provided by the Oireachtas.
It said that while there were some limited grounds under which such a person could be employed as a substitute teacher, those grounds do not include the filling of a fixed-term position.
Ms Hanly said she believes more flexibility needs to be shown given the crisis that schools are currently facing.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said: "It's really challenging for us to manage the needs of our children with extreme needs, with a third of our staff missing.
"We've tried to focus here on early intervention because that's absolutely vital.
"But we've had to pull some of that away now because there are children, older children, across the school who are in need of extra support for literacy and numeracy.
"And we've had to identify those across the school and just do the best we can with what we have."
The Teachers' Union of Ireland said if teachers are to be retained the profession must remain attractive in terms of career structures.
The union said a recent survey of members showed that less than a third of teachers appointed received a full-time contract, and just over one in ten teachers were offered permanent positions.
Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Housing Sorca Clarke said the difficulties outlined by Ms Hanly on being unable to employ teachers is "a shocking indictment of government housing policy".
In a statement, Ms Clarke said schools across Ireland are struggling to employ teachers as many are leaving for positions abroad because they cannot afford rents or high house prices.
