Primary school teachers took an average of eight sick leave days last year while secondary school teachers took 7.7 days, according to figures released by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.
Primary teachers, of whom there are 26,393, took 212,584 sick days in 2004 - 2.2 per cent of working days, while 17,206 secondary teachers recorded 132,693 sick days or 2.1 per cent of working days for the year.
Staff at the Department of Social and Family Affairs, which has 4,730 employees, took 63,998 sick days, 6.6 per cent of working days in the year or 13.5 days for each official, according to figures released by Minister Séamus Brennan.