Staffing pressures in Gaelic schools have led to Glasgow City Council deciding it will not make more places available in the near future.

The council assessed demand for Gaelic school places after the parents of five pupils requested it.

The Gaelic primary schools in the city are currently oversubscribed and there are plans in the future for expansion.

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The city has more than 1200 pupils at three Gaelic primary schools and one secondary with plans to increase it by 2028.

But it has been decided that it is “unreasonable” to expand it further at this time.

Douglas Hutchison, executive director for education said in a report to councillors the council has been unable to fill vacancies.

He said: “In recent months we have advertised for principal teacher positions and been in some instances unable to appoint.

“We were in the recent past unable to recruit an acting headteacher to a maternity cover post and we have had a very poor response from teachers to an offer of leadership development training fully funded by us as an authority.”

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This year the council had 157 children seeking Gaelic primary school and 140 places available.

The number was higher, at 178, but many got places in other council areas or enrolled either at a private school or the local primary instead.

Mr Hutchison said: “While we accept that current demand for GME (Gaelic Medium Education) outstrips our ability to provide places, we do believe that as a result of the challenges we currently face in both lack of space in the secondary provision and in the recruitment and retention of staff, particularly Gaelic speakers into promoted posts, that it is unreasonable at this juncture to provide any additional provision beyond that which we have already committed to in our long-term planning.

“We reject wholeheartedly the view that we are stifling demand for GMPE (Gaelic Medium Primary Education) by the introduction of a cap on numbers.”

The council says it has “comprehensive and extensive provision in GMPE and has consistently developed this provision over several years".

Last September there were 828 pupils enrolled in primary schools and 411 across the secondary provision.

Longer-term plans are under way to extend provision by opening a unit at the new North Kelvinside Primary School campus this month, which will transfer into the new north-east provision in the current St James' Primary School building from August 2024.

By August 2027 it plans to increase the primary intake from 140 to 180.