The INTO has reported that the Education Amendment Act 2012 has been passed by the Oireachtas and signed by the President. As well as a number of other issues, the Act allows the DES and Teaching Council to exchange data in order to compile lists of registered and unregistered teachers. It also paves the way for the Minister for Education and Skills to commence Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act.

This section will require everyone in publicly funded teaching posts to be registered with the Teaching Council in order to be paid from the Exchequer. It is now expected that Section 30 will be brought into force during the course of the next school term. Any teacher who is not registered with the Teaching Council at that point will have their salary stopped (as it will be unlawful for the DES to pay an unregistered person) and will not be paid from State funds until they are registered with the Teaching Council. It also means that teachers who have their pay stopped will not be eligible for arrears of pay after they do become registered.

The Teaching Council is urging teachers who are not registered to apply for registration as soon as possible in order to allow sufficient time for the processing of applications, including Garda Vetting, prior to the commencement of Section 30, to avoid any loss of salary.