The Department of Public Administration and Personnel has published updated salary data for public sector positions across all grades for the period from January 1 to June 30, 2026.
According to the figures, hourly pay in the public service starts at €9.48 for the lowest grades and rises to €46.12 for senior positions at the top of the pay scale.
Lower grades
In grade A1, annual earnings range from €15,100 at the entry level to €17,200 at the highest step, with an average hourly rate of €9.48. Monthly salaries in this grade start at €1,322 and reach €1,644 at the top step.
Mid-level grades
In grade A8, annual earnings begin at €24,500 at the entry level, with an average hourly rate of €18.17, and rise to €45,800 at the top step, where the average hourly rate reaches €18.87. Monthly salaries range from €2,101 to €3,818.
It is noted that reduced entry scales apply to new entrants appointed after January 1, 2012, to positions at the entry grade of the structure. These reductions do not apply to promotion posts.
Highest grades
At the highest grade, A16, annual salaries range from €71,000 at the entry level to €99,200 at the top step, with an average hourly rate reaching €46.12. Monthly salaries start at €6,768 and rise to €8,266.
Salary components
According to the data, public sector salaries include basic pay, general increases, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), and annual incremental increases.
Public sector wages at 11.8% of GDP
Based on estimates by the Ministry of Finance, total compensation of public sector employees is expected to increase by 6.9% in 2025, reaching €4.1 billion, up from €3.9 billion in 2024.
As outlined in the Draft Fiscal Programme 2026 submitted to the European Commission on October 15, 2025, the increase is attributed to several factors. These include the COLA adjustment, contributing 1.87 percentage points, wage and daily pay increases for employees of the State Health Services Organisation at 1.1 percentage points, incremental increases at 1 percentage point, higher expenditure on gratuities at 0.8 percentage points, and a general wage increase of 1.5% from October 2024, adding a further 0.4 percentage points.
For 2026, expenditure on employee compensation is projected to grow at a slower rate of 4%, reaching €4.3 billion. This reflects an unchanged COLA outlook compared with the previous year, given the estimated average inflation rate of zero in 2025, as well as the fading base effect of the general wage increase introduced on October 1, 2024.
As a share of GDP, employee compensation is estimated at 11.8% in 2025, compared with 11.6% in 2024, and is projected at 11.7% in 2026.
The Department of Public Administration and Personnel has also issued a circular announcing the revision of hourly wages and work-related allowances for hourly-paid government staff, effective from January 1, 2026, as a result of the COLA adjustment.