Accepting a CAO offer? These are the top five highest paying Irish professions

As over 65,000 young people are receiving their leaving certificate results today, money and the future may be weighing heavily on students’ minds. 

According to salaries listed on Indeed, the three highest-paid Irish roles are professor, doctor and chief financial officer, with average salaries of €129,976, €119,139 and €94,492 per year respectively. 

Accountancy salaries also demonstrate high earning potential, with an average salary package for chartered Accountants in Leinster reaching €118,578 in 2023.

While professorial salaries can deviate hugely, it is often medical consultants who are offered the largest pay packets from universities in order to compete with hospital rates. 

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Minister Helen McEntee said on NewsTalk that there are extra medicine places allocated this year, although the lottery system will still be in place. This means that those who meet the points and HPAT criteria for a place studying medicine will be allocated course places via random selection. 

Aspiring doctors who are not randomly selected or who miss out on the required high entry requirements may opt to study abroad in Bulgaria or Poland in order to be granted a course space. 

Chief Financial Officer 

There is no strict degree path to become a CFO of a company (or for receiving the coveted annual salary close to €100,000), however, those who find themselves in these positions will often come from accounting, finance or business backgrounds. 

Not strictly a requirement for the job - though very common for those in these positions - is an MBA postgraduate degree. 

To become a chartered accountant, students must have accounting experience and pass rigorous exams. 

A career’s consultant from Tyndall College in Carlow, Gemma Lawlor said on Newstalk that she hopes students aren’t just applying for courses based on possible future earnings.

“There has to be a balance, there's no point in going after a job unless you actually have the aptitude and the love and the passion and the determination to do well in it,” she said.

Lawlor said that arts and humanities CAO applications have reduced by 89%. Meanwhile, dentistry applications have increased by 41%. 

Qualified dentists in Ireland enjoy an average salary of €97,153. 

Lawlor said that there is a huge demand for university places this year, which have risen “exponentially” in size. She said: “there is a cohort who need to get a job and need to support their families, so they are very career-focused at this stage.”