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Paramedic salary in Ireland

The National Ambulance Service has four graded scales, from student paramedic through emergency medical technician and paramedic to specialist paramedic. This page has every point of all four.

The short answer

A newly qualified paramedic starts on €36,251 a year. After 4 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €37,477. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€36,251
about €2,568 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€37,477
about €2,639 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
€36,251

The full pay scale, every point

Student Paramedic, National Ambulance Service

Four points and no long service increment. The whole scale spans just €1,226, because it covers the training period rather than a career.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€36,251€30,811€2,568
2€36,694€31,122€2,593
3€37,138€31,433€2,619
4€37,477€31,671€2,639

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.

Emergency Medical Technician

Eight ordinary points then a long service increment. The ordinary steps are almost perfectly uniform at €1,515, with a final step of €1,521, and then the increment jumps €4,080.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€40,989€34,134€2,845
2€42,504€35,197€2,933
3€44,019€36,259€3,022
4€45,534€37,089€3,091
5€47,049€37,858€3,155
6€48,564€38,628€3,219
7€50,079€39,398€3,283
8€51,600€40,170€3,348
LSI€55,680€42,243€3,520

These are basic salary scales. Ambulance work attracts substantial premium payments for nights, weekends and unsocial hours which are set separately and are not included in any figure here, so actual earnings are typically well above the point shown. Long service increments are marked in the source document by bold alone, so we identify them from the font.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the student paramedic 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€36,251
Year 2Point 2€36,694
Year 3Point 3€37,138
Year 4Point 4€37,477

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 paramedic earn in Ireland?
A paramedic in the National Ambulance Service starts on €42,731 and reaches €57,796 at the top of the ordinary scale, with a long service increment of €60,346. A Specialist Paramedic runs from €53,554 to €70,386. These are basic scales from the Health Sector Consolidated Salary Scales effective 1 June 2026, before shift and unsocial hours premiums.
What does a student paramedic earn in Ireland?
€36,251 at point 1, rising to €37,477 at point 4. The whole student scale spans only €1,226 because it covers the training period rather than a career, and there is no long service increment on it.
What is the difference between an EMT and a paramedic?
Emergency Medical Technician is the grade below paramedic. An EMT runs from €40,989 to €51,600 with a long service increment of €55,680, and a paramedic from €42,731 to €57,796 with an increment of €60,346. The scales overlap for most of their length, so the gap at any given year of service is smaller than the ceilings suggest.
How much does a specialist paramedic earn?
Between €53,554 and €70,386 across nine points, with no long service increment. It is the highest operational grade on the ambulance scales and its steps are steady at about €2,040 each.
Are shift and weekend premiums included in these figures?
No. Every figure on this page is basic salary only. Ambulance work attracts significant premium payments for nights, weekends and unsocial hours, and these are set separately from the scale. Actual earnings for operational staff are typically well above the point they sit on, which is why quoted paramedic salaries vary so widely.
Why is the EMT long service increment so large?
It is the biggest jump on any ambulance scale. The increment adds €4,080 over the last ordinary point, where ordinary EMT steps are a near-uniform €1,515 each. That single increment is worth more than two and a half normal years of progression.
How long does it take to reach the top of the paramedic scale?
9 years to the top ordinary point of €57,796, with the long service increment after 3 further years, so €60,346 arrives at 12 years.
How much ASC does a paramedic pay?
The Additional Superannuation Contribution charges nothing on the first €34,500 of pensionable pay. On the paramedic starting salary of €42,731 it applies to about €8,200, at 3.33% for a Single Public Service Pension Scheme member. Note that non-pensionable premium payments do not attract ASC.
Is ambulance service pay the same across Ireland?
Yes. The National Ambulance Service operates nationally and the Consolidated Salary Scales apply throughout, so the same point pays the same in every station. There is no Dublin weighting. Dublin Fire Brigade provides ambulance services in the Dublin area under separate local authority arrangements.
When do HSE 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 new consolidated scales are 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 2026-08-14.

More public sector pay:

All public sector pay scales →