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Radiographer salary in Ireland

Radiography in the public health service has a long basic scale and three shorter grades above it. The grades overlap more than the titles suggest, which matters if you are weighing up a promotion.

The short answer

A newly qualified radiographer starts on €44,956 a year. After 16 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €64,235. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€44,956
about €3,066 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€64,235
about €3,882 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
€44,956

The full pay scale, every point

Radiographer (basic grade)

Thirteen ordinary points then a long service increment. The increments are remarkably even, sitting between €1,272 and €2,314 the whole way up.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€44,956€36,795€3,066
2€47,270€37,971€3,164
3€49,258€38,981€3,248
4€50,530€39,627€3,302
5€51,831€40,288€3,357
6€53,167€40,966€3,414
7€54,492€41,640€3,470
8€55,840€42,324€3,527
9€57,264€43,048€3,587
10€58,667€43,760€3,647
11€60,025€44,450€3,704
12€61,420€45,158€3,763
13€62,868€45,892€3,824
LSI€64,235€46,585€3,882

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 Radiographer

Only five points, and it starts below the eleventh point of the basic scale. See the note about overlap below.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€59,046€43,953€3,663
2€61,266€45,080€3,757
3€63,597€46,261€3,855
4€65,972€47,465€3,955
5€68,374€48,683€4,057

The grades here overlap unusually heavily. A Senior Radiographer at point 1 earns €59,046, which is less than a basic grade radiographer on point 11 or above. Promotion to Senior is therefore only worth money depending on where you are placed on the new scale, and someone near the top of the basic scale could move across for no immediate gain at all. 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 radiographer scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 16 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€44,956
Year 2Point 2€47,270
Year 3Point 3€49,258
Year 4Point 4€50,530
Year 5Point 5€51,831
Year 6Point 6€53,167
Year 7Point 7€54,492
Year 8Point 8€55,840
Year 9Point 9€57,264
Year 10Point 10€58,667
Year 11Point 11€60,025
Year 12Point 12€61,420
Year 13Point 13€62,868
Year 16Long Service Increment€64,235

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 radiographer earn in Ireland?
A basic grade radiographer starts on €44,956 and reaches €62,868 at the top of the ordinary scale, with a long service increment of €64,235. A Senior runs from €59,046 to €68,374, a Clinical Specialist from €66,248 to €78,250, and Advanced Practice from €68,727 to €82,030. Figures are from the Health Sector Consolidated Salary Scales effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a radiographer in Ireland?
€44,956 a year at point 1 of the basic grade scale. That is slightly below the therapy professions, where physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists all start on €45,514.
Is it worth being promoted to Senior Radiographer?
Not automatically, and this is the most important thing on this page. The Senior scale starts at €59,046, which is less than a basic grade radiographer earns from point 11 onward. A radiographer at the top of the basic scale on €62,868, or on the long service increment of €64,235, is already ahead of the first two points of the Senior scale. What Senior buys is a higher ceiling of €68,374, not an immediate rise.
How long does it take to reach the top of the radiography scale?
13 years to the top ordinary point of €62,868, with the long service increment after 3 further years, so €64,235 arrives at 16 years.
How even are the increments on the radiography scale?
Unusually even. Every step on the basic grade scale falls between €1,272 and €2,314, with no large jumps or flat stretches. That makes radiography one of the more predictable careers to plan financially, unlike psychology where the increments swing from €2,858 to €5,217.
What is the highest paid radiography grade?
Advanced Practice, reaching €82,030, ahead of Clinical Specialist at €78,250. Both are short five point scales, so they climb quickly once you are on them: Clinical Specialist has the largest steps in radiography at about €3,001 each.
What qualifications do you need to be a radiographer in Ireland?
A recognised radiography degree and registration with the Radiographers Registration Board at CORU. Registration is a legal requirement to practise under the title and is separate from the pay scale, which is set nationally by circular.
How much ASC does a radiographer pay?
The Additional Superannuation Contribution charges nothing on the first €34,500 of pensionable pay. On the starting salary of €44,956 it applies to about €10,500, at 3.33% for a Single Public Service Pension Scheme member. Higher up the scales part of the salary passes €60,000 and attracts the 3.5% rate.
Is radiographer pay the same across Ireland?
Yes in the public health service. The Consolidated Salary Scales are national and apply in HSE and Section 38 voluntary employers alike, with no Dublin weighting.
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 →