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Graduate Engineer salary in Ireland

Graduate Engineer is the early career grade for engineers in an Irish county or city council. It is a short four point scale with no long service increments, designed to feed into Assistant Engineer rather than to be a career in itself.

The short answer

A newly qualified graduate engineer starts on €40,244 a year. After 4 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €50,951. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€40,244
about €2,801 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€50,951
about €3,320 a month take-home

Figures from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026. Take-home is for a single person with standard credits, after income tax, USC, PRSI and ASC.

What point of the scale am I on?

This is where most salary pages get it wrong. Your point is not always the same as your years of service, because one of the two scales carries incremental skips. Pick your situation:

You are on point 1
€40,244

The full pay scale, every point

Graduate Engineer

Four points and no long service increments, which is unusual in local government and tells you what the grade is for: it is a route into Assistant Engineer, not a destination.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€40,244€33,612€2,801
2€43,111€35,623€2,969
3€47,211€37,941€3,162
4€50,951€39,841€3,320

Take-home assumes a single person with the personal and employee tax credits, no other income, and ASC at Single Public Service Pension Scheme rates. Your main superannuation contribution is deducted separately and depends on your scheme.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the graduate engineer scale scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 4 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€40,244
Year 2Point 2€43,111
Year 3Point 3€47,211
Year 4Point 4€50,951

Progression is automatic on your incremental date as long as your service is satisfactory. Time spent on a career break or otherwise out of service pushes your incremental date back.

What comes off your salary

Four deductions apply before your pay reaches your account, and one of them is specific to the public service.

Income tax, USC and PRSI

The same as any employee. Income tax at 20% up to €44,000 for a single person and 40% above, USC in bands from 0.5% to 8%, and PRSI at 4.2%.

ASC, the public service extra

The Additional Superannuation Contribution. Nothing on the first €34,500, then 3.33% to €60,000 and 3.5% above for Single Scheme members. Pre-2013 scheme members pay 10% and 10.5% on the same bands. It reduces your income tax but not your USC or PRSI.

One thing to be aware of: the take-home figures on this page include ASC but not your main superannuation contribution, which is charged separately and depends on which pension scheme you joined. Your actual net pay will be somewhat lower. We show ASC because its rates are published and identical for everyone, while the main contribution varies.

Questions people ask most

How much does a Graduate Engineer earn in Ireland?
A Graduate Engineer in a local authority starts on €40,244 a year and reaches €50,951 at the fourth and final point. There are no long service increments on this scale. Figures come from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a Graduate Engineer in a council?
€40,244 a year at point 1. It is one of the lower professional starting salaries in local government, but the scale climbs quickly and there are only four years to the top of it.
Why does the Graduate Engineer scale have no long service increment?
Because it is not designed to be stayed on. Almost every other local government grade carries one or two long service increments for time served at the maximum. This one stops at point 4, which signals that the expected path is to move to Assistant Engineer rather than to sit at the top of the graduate scale.
How fast does the Graduate Engineer scale climb?
Quickly, and unevenly. The step from point 1 to point 2 is €2,867, then point 2 to point 3 jumps €4,100, and point 3 to point 4 adds €3,740. Over three increments the salary rises by €10,707, which is around 27% above the starting point.
What is the difference between a Graduate Engineer and an Assistant Engineer?
Assistant Engineer is the substantive professional grade, running from €48,248 to €74,809 with both long service increments, on a scale of eleven points. Graduate Engineer is a four point early career grade topping out at €50,951. The two overlap: the top of the graduate scale sits between points 1 and 3 of the Assistant Engineer scale.
Does moving to Assistant Engineer mean an immediate pay rise?
Not necessarily on day one, because the scales overlap. A Graduate Engineer at the top on €50,951 is already above Assistant Engineer point 1 of €48,248 and point 2 of €50,942. What changes is the ceiling: the graduate scale stops at €50,951 while Assistant Engineer continues to €74,809.
How much ASC does a Graduate Engineer pay?
Not a great deal at the start. The Additional Superannuation Contribution charges nothing on the first €34,500 of pensionable pay, so on point 1 of €40,244 it applies only to €5,744. A Single Public Service Pension Scheme member pays 3.33% on that portion.
Is Graduate Engineer pay the same in every council?
Yes. The engineering scales are national and set by circular, so the same point pays the same in every county and city council in the country. There is no Dublin weighting.
When do local government salaries increase next?
These 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 the next rates depend on the agreement that succeeds it. We update this page when a new circular is published.

Where these figures come from

Every euro figure on this page is taken from the official circulars below, not from salary surveys or crowd-sourced averages. Last checked 2026-08-13.

More public sector pay:

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