Schools across the Shannonside region are reporting difficulty in recruiting primary teachers for this September.
Longford based principal Orla Finnegan says short-term and maternity vacancies are the hardest filled with some teachers hoping for more permanent contracts.
She believes redeployment panels are released too late by the department with some schools now left interviewing for posts late into the Summer.
Despite reports of a large number of educators leaving Dublin to work in cheaper areas the St. Felim’s principal says rural areas are still struggling to recruit.
''Schools are now only starting the recruitment and there is a huge problem amongst all schools. It's just impossible to get teachers and I know Dublin is really affected but country schools are also affected, if you don't have year contracts to offer naturally enough teachers are waiting to get an offer. So they might accept a job in your school and then they're doing an interview someplace else the next day or the next week, and then they're gone again.''
