Teachers taking early retirement will create difficulty in reducing the teacher-pupil ratio, according to Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes.
Mr Hayes says that figures obtained from the Department of Education show that the number of teachers retiring early has doubled from 641 in 2001 to 1,340 in 2007.
Brian Hayes, Fine Gael
He said that Education Minister Mary Hanafin has just produced spending proposals that make provision for 1,200 new teachers in 2008 when 1,340 had retired in 2007.
"How can we reduce the pupil teacher ratio and put an additional 4,000 teachers into the system over the next four years, when as many teachers are leaving the profession as entering it every year?," asked Mr Hayes.
Mr Hayes says that creative proposals need to be put forward to reduce the loss of some of the most experienced teachers from the education system.
"Specifically I believe that a much more flexible approach needs to be taken which would encourage job sharing, redeploying older teachers to help mentor younger teachers, and removing the compulsory retirement age for those who began teaching pre 2004," he said.