Nurses/ Midwives eligible for payment of location/qualification allowances are Staff/Enhanced Nurses/Midwives, Senior Staff/Enhanced Nurses, CNMs/CMMs 1, 2 & 3 (incl. Theatre Sisters).
Nurses/Midwives may benefit from either a qualification allowance or a location allowance when eligible - the higher of the two - when working on qualifying duties. Pro-rata arrangements apply to job-sharing and part-time staff.
The allowances below are based on the 1 October 2024 salary scale.
Location allowance
A location allowance of €2,663 is available for registered nurses employed on duties in the following locations:
- Accident & Emergency Depts
- Theatre/O.R.
- Renal Units
- Intensive/Coronary Care Units
- Cancer/Oncology Units
- Geriatric Units/Long-Stay Hospital or Units in County Homes
- High Dependency Units
- Neo Natal Units (ICU)
- Endoscopy Units
- Specialist Ambulatory Dialysis Units
- Units for Severe and Profoundly Handicapped in Mental Handicap Services
- Acute Admission Units in Mental Health Services
- Secure Units in Mental Health Services
- Dedicated Care of the Elderly (excluding Day Care Centres) and Alzheimer’s Units in Mental Health Services and the Intellectual Disability Sector (including Psycho-Geriatric Wards, Elderly Mentally Infirm Units, Psychiatry of Later Life Services)
- Medical/Surgical Wards (*Allowance effective from 1st March 2019)
- Maternity Departments (*Allowance effective from 1st March 2019)
- With effect from 1st March 2019, the location allowance of €2,637 is extended to Public Health Nurses not holding a midwifery qualification but engaged in provision of midwifery services as part of their duties
Qualification allowance
A quaification allowance of €4,000 is payable to registered nurses/midwives who are:
a) Employed on duties in specialist areas appropriate to the following qualifications where they hold the relevant qualification, for example.
- Accident & Emergency Nursing Course
- Anaesthetic Nursing Course
- Behaviour Modification Course
- Behavioural Therapy Course
- Burns Nursing Course
- Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing Course
- Coronary Care Course
- Diabetic Nursing Course
- Ear Nose & Throat Nursing Course
- Forensic Psychiatric Nursing Course
- Gerontological Nursing Course
- Higher Diploma in Midwifery
- Higher Diploma in Paediatrics
- Infection Control Nursing Course
- Intensive Care Nursing Course (incl. Paediatric Intensive Care and Special and Intensive Care of New Born)
- Neurological/Neurosurgical Nursing Course
- Operating Theatre Nursing Course (incl. Paediatric Op. Theatre)
- Ophthalmic Nursing Course
- Orthopaedic Nursing Course
- Higher Diploma in Cardiovascular Nursing/Diabetes Nursing/Oncological
- Nursing/Palliative Care Nursing/Accident and Emergency Nursing
- Rehabilitation Nursing Course
- Renal Nursing Course
- Stoma Care Nursing Course
This list is not exhaustive – payment of the specialist qualification allowance extends to all specialist courses confirmed as Category II or equivalent by the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland that are directly related to the nurse/midwife’s current clinical area of work.
b) Registered General Nurses holding recognised post-registration qualifications in midwifery or sick children's nursing and employed on duties appropriate to their qualification.
The Qualification Allowance of €4,000 is available to Public Health Nurses & Asst. Directors of Public Health Nursing.
Dual Qualified Scale
Applies to nurses in possession of 2 of the 5 registered nursing qualifications where you must have held the qualification or in training for the 2nd qualification on 1st October 1996. In the case of midwifery and sick children's nursing, the dual qualified scale is effective from 1st August 1998. A staff nurse can only receive either a dual qualified scale or an allowance whichever is the greater. The exceptions to this are:-
- Nurses who were paid on the dual qualified scale on 1st October 1996 and in receipt of a location allowance at 1st August 1998 or eligible for a new location/qualification allowance from 31st March 1999. In such cases the value of the location/qualification allowance is €1,665 which they receive in addition to their dual qualified scale.
- With effect from 26th November 2003, nurses who are paid on the dual qualified scale and who then move to an area that attracts a location/qualification allowance will continue to be paid on the dual qualified scale and will also receive the abated value of the location/qualification allowance of €1,665. Payment of the allowance will cease if the nurse moves out of the qualifying area.