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Public sector pay scales in Ireland

Public sector jobs in Ireland do not pay an average, they pay a published scale. Every figure here comes from the official government circular that sets it, not from a salary survey.

How public sector pay works

Nearly every public service job sits on an incremental salary scale: a numbered list of pay points. You are appointed to a point, and each year of satisfactory service moves you up one, until you reach the maximum. This is why a search result telling you the "average" salary for a job is close to meaningless. What matters is which point you are on.

Set by circular

Rates are published in government circulars, so they are exact and identical nationwide. There is no Dublin weighting.

Allowances on top

Your point is only the base. Qualification, location and promoted-post allowances can add thousands a year.

ASC comes off

Public servants pay the Additional Superannuation Contribution: nothing on the first €34,500, then a band to €60,000 and the balance above.

Current rates come from the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which applied a 1% increase on 1 June 2026. That agreement is in its final year, so a successor will set the next round.

Pay scales by sector

We are building this out one job at a time, and a page goes live only when every figure on it has been taken from the source circular. 15 pages are live so far.

Education

4 of 5 live

Teachers, special needs assistants and staff in schools and further education.

Health

0 of 6 live

HSE grades, from nursing and medical staff to health and social care professionals.

  • Staff nurse (coming)
  • Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor (NCHD) (coming)
  • Hospital consultant (coming)
  • Physiotherapist (coming)
  • Social worker (coming)
  • Healthcare assistant (coming)

Civil service

6 of 6 live

The common grades that run across every government department.

Justice and defence

0 of 4 live

An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and the Irish Prison Service.

  • Garda (coming)
  • Defence Forces, enlisted (coming)
  • Defence Forces, officer (coming)
  • Prison officer (coming)

Local government

5 of 8 live

County and city council staff: the Grade 3 to Grade 7 administrative ladder, engineers and the fire service.

How we source these figures

Each page cites the circular number and date it is built from, and links to it. We do not use salary surveys, job board averages or crowd-sourced estimates. When a new circular is published we update the page and the date on it. Last reviewed 2026-08-13.