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Midwife pay in Ireland

Midwifery pay is not published as its own set of scales. Every grade is paid exactly what the equivalent nursing grade is paid, and knowing that is the fastest way to read the figures.

The short answer

A newly qualified midwife starts on €38,166 a year. After 15 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €56,592. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€38,166
about €2,680 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€56,592
about €3,559 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
€38,166

The full pay scale, every point

Staff Midwife

Published as Registered Midwife on the Staff Nurse scale. Twelve ordinary points and then a long service increment, which is the longest climb of any grade here.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€38,166€32,154€2,680
2€40,158€33,551€2,796
3€41,175€34,265€2,855
4€42,519€35,207€2,934
5€44,213€36,395€3,033
6€45,907€37,278€3,107
7€47,591€38,134€3,178
8€49,049€38,874€3,240
9€50,509€39,616€3,301
10€51,973€40,360€3,363
11€53,466€41,118€3,427
12€54,956€41,875€3,490
LSI€56,592€42,706€3,559

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.

Senior Staff Midwife

A single point rather than a scale, sitting above the Staff Midwife long service increment and inside the lower half of the Clinical Midwife Manager 1 scale.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€59,278€44,071€3,673

This scale is shared with other professions

Midwife is not paid on a scale of its own. The figures above are identical, point for point, to those for staff nurses, clinical nurse managers and advanced nurse practitioners. On the same point of the same grade, all of them are paid exactly the same amount. The discipline changes the work and the qualification, not the money.

Every scale here is published in the HSE consolidated document under a midwifery title, and every one matches its nursing equivalent exactly, point for point. Long service increments are marked in the source only by being printed in bold, so we identified them from the font used rather than by assuming which points they were.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the staff midwife scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 15 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€38,166
Year 2Point 2€40,158
Year 3Point 3€41,175
Year 4Point 4€42,519
Year 5Point 5€44,213
Year 6Point 6€45,907
Year 7Point 7€47,591
Year 8Point 8€49,049
Year 9Point 9€50,509
Year 10Point 10€51,973
Year 11Point 11€53,466
Year 12Point 12€54,956
Year 15Long Service Increment€56,592

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 Long Service Increment is not an annual increment: it is paid only after 3 years of satisfactory service at the maximum of the scale, which is why it appears 3 years after the last point rather than the year after it.

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 midwife earn in Ireland?
A Staff Midwife starts on €38,166 and reaches €54,956 at the top of a twelve point scale, with a long service increment of €56,592 after that. Moving into management or advanced practice takes it much higher: a Clinical Midwife Manager 2 can reach €79,227 and an Advanced Midwife Practitioner €89,894.
What is the starting salary for a midwife in Ireland?
€38,166 on the first point of the Staff Midwife scale, as of 1 June 2026. That is the same first point as a Staff Nurse, because the two grades are published on the same scale.
Do midwives earn the same as nurses in Ireland?
Yes, grade for grade the scales are identical. A Registered Midwife is published on the Staff Nurse scale, and Clinical Midwife Manager 1, 2 and 3 pay exactly what CNM1, CNM2 and CNM3 pay. An Advanced Midwife Practitioner is on the Advanced Nurse Practitioner scale.
How long does it take a midwife to reach the top of the pay scale?
On the Staff Midwife scale, about eleven years to reach €54,956 at the top of the twelve ordinary points, then the long service increment of €56,592 after a further period at the maximum. It is the longest scale of any grade covered here.
How much does a Clinical Midwife Manager 2 earn?
From €62,699 to €76,921 over ten points, with a long service increment of €79,227. It is the only clinical midwife manager grade with a long service increment.
What is the highest paid midwifery grade?
In clinical practice, the Advanced Midwife Practitioner, which reaches €89,894. That is above every Clinical Midwife Manager grade, including CMM3 which stops at €81,478. Director of Midwifery posts sit higher again but are management roles.
Does a CMM3 earn more than a CMM2?
Not necessarily at first. CMM3 starts at €72,146, which is below the €76,921 top of the ordinary CMM2 scale and well below the €79,227 long service increment. A long serving CMM2 can take a promotion and find the first point of the new grade pays less.
Is a Senior Staff Midwife a separate grade?
Yes, and it is a single point rather than a scale: €59,278. That is above the Staff Midwife long service increment of €56,592, and also above the first point of Clinical Midwife Manager 1 at €57,780, landing between the second and third points of the CMM1 scale.
When do midwife pay scales change next?
These figures are effective 1 June 2026 under the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which is in its final year. The next change depends on the successor agreement, 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 2026-08-14.

More public sector pay:

All public sector pay scales →