Housing crisis 'could do more damage to education than Covid' says Offaly TD

Offaly TD Carol Nolan said the current housing shortage could end up causing more long-term damage to children's education than the school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Independent TD's comments today (Monday) were in response to the news that over 1,000 unfilled teaching vacancies are currently being advertised on the Educationposts.ie website.

This includes 643 posts in primary schools, and 456 vacancies in secondary schools.

"The problem during Covid was that we could not get children into schools. The problem now is that we cannot get teachers into the schools," said Deputy Nolan.

"This is a direct consequence of the catastrophic handling of the housing market; the upward spiral in rents, the persistent cost of living crisis and the gradual deterioration in living standards which is making emigration an attractive but reluctant option.

"In this respect the Government is proving itself more dangerous and more of a threat to education that the virus," she said.

"The fact is that we had a couple of years during Covid when huge damage was caused to children and young adults' education. But there was always going to be an inevitable end-point to that.

"The housing crisis, however, shows no signs of slowing down and it has been going on for nearly a decade now. In addition to this the pressure on rents remains unbearable and unaffordable.

"Without major interventions around tax breaks, construction reliefs and escalated supply of social and affordable housing the children of Ireland may yet return to classrooms taught remotely by teachers who just cannot afford to live in their communities.

"This is a major crisis and it needs urgent prioritisation," concluded Deputy Nolan.