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Staff Nurse salary in Ireland

Nursing in the Irish health service is paid on a published incremental scale, and the same one covers general, community, midwifery, intellectual disability and children's nursing. Mental health nursing has its own, slightly higher. This page has every point of both.

The short answer

A newly qualified staff nurse 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 Nurse (general, community, midwife, intellectual disability, children's)

One scale covers most nursing disciplines. The Consolidated Salary Scales list Staff Nurse, Staff Nurse General (Community), Registered Midwife, Registered Intellectual Disability Nurse and Registered Sick Children's Nurse on identical figures.

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.

Mental Health Staff Nurse

Mental health nursing sits on its own scale, a few hundred euro above the general one at most points.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€38,908€32,675€2,723
2€40,636€33,887€2,824
3€41,989€34,836€2,903
4€43,364€35,800€2,983
5€44,807€36,719€3,060
6€46,165€37,409€3,117
7€47,583€38,130€3,177
8€48,685€38,689€3,224
9€49,890€39,302€3,275
10€51,456€40,097€3,341
11€53,018€40,891€3,408
12€55,305€42,053€3,504
LSI€56,948€42,887€3,574

In the source document long service increments are marked only by being printed in bold. We identified them from the font used rather than by assuming which points they were, because a misread there would change how long the scale takes to climb.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the staff nurse 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 staff nurse earn in Ireland?
A Staff Nurse starts on €38,166 a year and reaches €54,956 at the top of the ordinary scale. The long service increment then brings it to €56,592. A Mental Health Staff Nurse is on a slightly higher scale, from €38,908 to €56,948. Figures come from the Health Sector Consolidated Salary Scales effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a nurse in Ireland?
€38,166 a year at point 1 of the Staff Nurse scale, or €38,908 in mental health nursing. A nurse on an adaptation placement, which is the supervised period for internationally qualified nurses awaiting registration, is paid a flat €33,370 and is not on the incremental scale.
How long does it take to reach the top of the nursing scale?
12 years to reach the top ordinary point of €54,956. The long service increment is paid after 3 further years at that maximum, so €56,592 arrives after 15 years in total.
What is the LSI on the HSE nursing scale?
A long service increment, worth €1,636 above the last ordinary point. The health sector rule is that the first LSI is paid after 3 years on the maximum, a second after 3 more and a third after 3 more again. The Staff Nurse scale carries only one.
Is mental health nursing paid more?
Slightly, and it has its own scale rather than an allowance. It starts €742 above the general Staff Nurse scale and finishes €356 above it at the long service increment. The gap is widest in the early years and narrows further up.
How much does a Clinical Nurse Manager earn?
A Clinical Nurse Manager 1 is paid between €57,780 and €68,046 across eight points, with no long service increment. A Clinical Nurse Manager 2 runs from €62,699 to €76,921 over ten ordinary points, with a long service increment of €79,227 after three years at the maximum.
Do midwives earn the same as nurses?
On the basic grade, yes. The Consolidated Salary Scales place Registered Midwife on the identical scale to Staff Nurse, €38,166 to €56,592. Midwifery management grades mirror the nursing ones too: Clinical Midwife Manager 1 and 2 are paid the same as Clinical Nurse Manager 1 and 2.
How much ASC does a nurse pay?
Nothing at the bottom of the scale. The Additional Superannuation Contribution charges nothing on the first €34,500 of pensionable pay, and point 1 of €38,166 is only €3,666 above that. Most nurses who started from 2013 onward are in the Single Public Service Pension Scheme and pay 3.33% on the amount above the threshold.
Is nurse pay the same in every hospital in Ireland?
Yes across the public health service. The Consolidated Salary Scales are national and apply in the HSE and in Section 38 voluntary hospitals alike, so the same point pays the same everywhere. There is no Dublin weighting. What varies is premium pay for nights, weekends and on-call, which is set separately from the basic scale.
When do HSE salaries increase next?
These rates come from the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which applied a 1% increase to basic salaries and to allowances in the nature of pay 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 →