Government figures indicate it will imply an additional cost of €90.2 million in terms of salaries. In 2018 more than half of fully-employed teachers – 50,151 in all - will be able to progress in their career. Expenditure on the salaries of the 99,000 or so teachers employed by the state is set to rise to €3.79 billion next year, with the impact of career progression set to total €252 million over the next four years.