R€

Senior Executive Officer salary in Ireland

Senior Executive Officer is the senior administrative grade in an Irish county or city council, sitting above Grade 7 and below Director of Service. The same scale covers the County and City Librarian and the senior accountancy posts.

The short answer

A newly qualified senior executive officer starts on €82,595 a year. After 13 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €109,155. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€82,595
about €4,605 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€109,155
about €5,617 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
€82,595

The full pay scale, every point

Senior Executive Officer, County and City Librarian, Head of Information Systems, Financial Accountant, Management Accountant

One scale covers a wide spread of senior council roles. The first step is unusually small and the second long service increment unusually large, so the shape of this scale is lopsided at both ends.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€82,595€55,266€4,605
2€83,331€55,602€4,634
3€86,572€57,083€4,757
4€89,833€58,574€4,881
5€93,101€60,067€5,006
6€96,333€61,544€5,129
7€99,586€63,031€5,253
LSI 1€103,275€64,717€5,393
LSI 2€109,155€67,404€5,617

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 senior executive officer scale scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 13 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€82,595
Year 2Point 2€83,331
Year 3Point 3€86,572
Year 4Point 4€89,833
Year 5Point 5€93,101
Year 6Point 6€96,333
Year 7Point 7€99,586
Year 10Long Service Increment 1€103,275
Year 13Long Service Increment 2€109,155

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. The two Long Service Increments are not annual increments: they are paid for time served at the maximum of the scale, LSI 1 after 3 years and LSI 2 after 6 years. That is why they appear several years after the last point rather than one after the other.

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 Senior Executive Officer earn in a council?
A Senior Executive Officer starts on €82,595 a year and reaches €99,586 at the top of the ordinary scale. The two long service increments then bring it to €103,275 and finally €109,155. Figures come from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a Senior Executive Officer?
€82,595 a year at point 1. That is comfortably above the ceiling of the Grade 7 Administrative Officer scale below it, which reaches €79,583 with both its long service increments, so this is one of the few local government promotions with no overlap at all.
Why is the first increment on this scale so small?
It is a genuine quirk. The step from point 1 to point 2 is only €736, while every later step is between €3,200 and €3,300. Your first year of progression on this grade is worth under a quarter of what each of the following years is worth.
How long does it take to reach the top of the scale?
7 years to reach the top ordinary point of €99,586. The first long service increment follows after 3 further years at the maximum and the second after 6, so €109,155 arrives after 13 years in total.
Why is the second long service increment bigger than the first?
Another quirk of this scale. LSI1 adds €3,689, roughly the size of an ordinary step, but LSI2 adds €5,880, which is considerably more. On most local government grades the two increments are close to equal, so staying the full six years at the maximum is worth relatively more here.
What roles are on the Senior Executive Officer scale?
Several. As well as Senior Executive Officer itself, the same scale covers the County and City Librarian, the Head of Information Systems, and the Financial Accountant and Management Accountant posts. They are different jobs paid identically.
What comes above Senior Executive Officer?
Director of Service, also titled Executive Manager in Dublin City Council, which runs from €115,332 to €136,300 across five points. Above that is the council's Chief Executive, whose salary is banded by the size of the authority from €168,954 to €241,361.
How much ASC does a Senior Executive Officer pay?
The entire scale is well above €60,000, so nearly all of it attracts the top rate. A Single Public Service Pension Scheme member pays 3.5% on the portion above €60,000, while a member of a pre-2013 scheme pays 10.5% on the same portion.
Is Senior Executive Officer pay the same in every council?
Yes. The administrative scales are national and set by circular, so the same point pays the same in every county and city council. Only the Chief Executive post is banded by the size of the authority.
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:

All public sector pay scales →