Staffing levels mean additional delays are expected to be placed upon the Garda vetting of more than 42,000 teachers.

The Irish Examiner reports how the Teaching Council has just 28 of the 48 employees required to ensure the process is completed in the three-year timeframe.

Due to a recruitment ban, the council is unable to hire more staff to help perform the task and forthcoming changes to legal functions, mandatory registration, inductions and probation periods mean the body's workload is set to increase.

A spokesperson for the Teaching Council said: "The council is anxious that these would be addressed without delay, so that it is appropriately equipped to fulfil its mandate as the professional standards body for teaching."

Currently, more than half of the 73,000 teachers registered with the council have not been vetted, as most were employed before this became a legal requirement in 2006.

The Teaching Council aims to promote teaching as a profession, establish a register of educational workers, publish a code of professional conduct, regulate the profession and promote continual development among teachers.

Written by Donal Walsh

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