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Optometrist pay in Ireland

This is one of the highest entry points in the whole health service, higher than where most grades finish. What it does not have is anywhere much to go afterwards.

The short answer

A newly qualified optometrist starts on €65,197 a year. After 9 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €76,767. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€65,197
about €3,923 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€76,767
about €4,384 a month take-home

Figures from Department of Health Circular 2/2026, 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
€65,197

The full pay scale, every point

Clinical Optometrist

Nine points and no long service increment, so €76,767 is the ceiling of the grade. The steps are even, between €1,400 and €1,600 each.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€65,197€47,073€3,923
2€66,587€47,777€3,981
3€68,021€48,504€4,042
4€69,442€49,225€4,102
5€70,864€49,905€4,159
6€72,358€50,587€4,216
7€73,935€51,308€4,276
8€75,506€52,026€4,336
9€76,767€52,602€4,384

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.

There is no long service increment on this grade. Where a staff nurse or a physiologist keeps rising after the ordinary points run out, an optometrist stops at point nine. That matters more than it sounds: it means the whole of the pay range is delivered in the first eight years and nothing follows.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the clinical optometrist scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 9 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€65,197
Year 2Point 2€66,587
Year 3Point 3€68,021
Year 4Point 4€69,442
Year 5Point 5€70,864
Year 6Point 6€72,358
Year 7Point 7€73,935
Year 8Point 8€75,506
Year 9Point 9€76,767

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 an optometrist earn in Ireland?
In the HSE, a Clinical Optometrist earns from €65,197 at the first point to €76,767 at the ninth, which is the ceiling. These are the rates effective 1 June 2026. Pay in private practice is a separate matter and is not published anywhere we could cite.
What is the starting salary for an optometrist in the HSE?
€65,197. That is one of the highest entry points in the health service, and it is above where a staff nurse finishes after a full career including the long service increment, which is €56,592.
How long does it take to reach the top of the optometrist scale?
About eight years, moving up one of the nine points a year. Because there is no long service increment, point nine at €76,767 is the end of the scale rather than a step before another one.
Is there a senior optometrist grade?
The HSE consolidated scales publish the Clinical Optometrist grade, which is what this page covers. We have not found a separate senior optometrist scale in the document, so we do not list one rather than guessing at figures.
Does an optometrist earn more than a physiotherapist or a dietitian?
At the entry point, considerably more. An optometrist starts at €65,197, which is above where several of the therapy grades reach at the top of their ordinary scales. The picture narrows further up, because those grades have long service increments and this one does not.
Is HSE optometrist pay the same as private practice?
No, and this page does not cover private practice. These are the HSE scales, set by circular and identical nationwide. What an optometrist earns in a private practice or a retail chain is agreed with the employer and is not published in any source we can point to.
When do these rates change next?
These are effective 1 June 2026 under the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which is in its final year. The next change depends on the agreement that succeeds it, and we update this page when the Department of Health publishes revised scales.

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 2026-08-18.

More public sector pay:

All public sector pay scales →