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Principal Officer salary in Ireland

Principal Officer is the senior management grade of the Irish civil service, sitting directly below Assistant Secretary. This page has every point of the scale, both long service increments, and what actually lands after tax.

The short answer

A newly qualified principal officer starts on €108,152 a year. After 11 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €133,775. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€108,152
about €5,579 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€133,775
about €6,555 a month take-home

Figures from Circular 22/2026, 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
€108,152

The full pay scale, every point

Principal Officer, standard scale (PPC)

PPC means Personal Pension Contribution, the scale for anyone recruited since 6 April 1995. This is the scale a newly appointed Principal Officer goes on.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€108,152€66,945€5,579
2€112,741€69,043€5,754
3€117,294€71,123€5,927
4€121,883€73,220€6,102
5€125,753€74,989€6,249
LSI 1€129,768€76,824€6,402
LSI 2€133,775€78,655€6,555

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.

Principal Officer, higher scale (PPC)

A higher scale attaches to certain Principal Officer posts, and it carries its own pair of long service increments.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€116,397€70,713€5,893
2€121,189€72,903€6,075
3€126,005€75,104€6,259
4€130,809€77,300€6,442
5€134,906€79,172€6,598
LSI 1€139,225€81,146€6,762
LSI 2€143,541€83,118€6,927

A separate non-PPC scale exists for staff recruited before 6 April 1995, who pay modified PRSI rather than Class A. Because their PRSI is charged differently, the take-home figures here do not apply to that group.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the standard scale scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 11 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€108,152
Year 2Point 2€112,741
Year 3Point 3€117,294
Year 4Point 4€121,883
Year 5Point 5€125,753
Year 8Long Service Increment 1€129,768
Year 11Long Service Increment 2€133,775

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 Principal Officer earn in the Irish civil service?
A Principal Officer starts on €108,152 a year and reaches €125,753 at the top of the ordinary standard scale. The two long service increments then bring it to €129,768 and finally €133,775. Figures come from Circular 22/2026, effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a Principal Officer?
€108,152 a year at point 1 of the standard PPC scale. That is above the very top of the Assistant Principal standard scale, which reaches €103,576 including both long service increments, so promotion to PO always means a real increase.
How long does it take to reach the top of the PO scale?
5 years to reach the top ordinary point of €125,753, the shortest of the general service scales. The first long service increment follows after 3 further years at the maximum and the second after 6, so €133,775 arrives after 11 years in total.
What is the difference between the standard and higher PO scales?
The higher scale attaches to particular posts rather than to service, and it has its own long service increments. It runs from €116,397 to €134,906 on ordinary points, then €139,225 and €143,541 with the two increments.
What comes above Principal Officer in the civil service?
Assistant Secretary, then Deputy Secretary, then Secretary General. Assistant Secretary runs from €171,517 to €196,205, Deputy Secretary is a single point of €221,451, and Secretary General has three levels from €252,970 to €283,711. All are set out in the same circular.
What are LSI1 and LSI2?
Long service increments. They are not ordinary annual increments: LSI1 is paid after 3 years of satisfactory service at the maximum of the scale and LSI2 after 6 years. Since the ordinary PO scale is only five points, most of the grade's upper range comes from these two increments.
How much tax does a Principal Officer pay?
A large share, because the salary sits well into the higher rate. On top of income tax at 40% above €44,000 for a single person, USC reaches the 8% band above €70,044, PRSI is charged on the full salary, and the Additional Superannuation Contribution applies at 3.5% above €60,000 for Single Scheme members, or 10.5% for members of pre-2013 schemes. The scale table shows the resulting take-home for every point.
How do you become a Principal Officer?
Mainly through internal and interdepartmental promotion competitions open to serving Assistant Principals, and sometimes through open competitions advertised on publicjobs.ie for specialist roles.
When do civil service 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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