State Pension (Contributory)

The State Pension (Contributory) is paid on your social insurance record, not on a means test. Two methods are used to work out the weekly rate, and the law is part-way through a ten-year switch from one to the other — so the year you reach pensionable age changes how your rate is calculated. This section sets out the published tables and the rules that govern them.

Where these figures come from

Every amount and rule on this page is taken from a named primary source: the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 in the Law Reform Commission’s revised, in-force text; the Social Welfare and Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System (Amendment) Act 2025, which replaced the weekly rates from 1 January 2026; and the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations 2007, again in the revised text. Each figure below carries the provision it was read from.

These pages are not the same subject as the rest of this site, which covers pay and payroll deductions. They have not been through this site’s own review and sign-off. Do not rely on them for a financial decision or a claim: check the cited source, or contact the Department of Social Protection, which holds your actual contribution record.

The State Pension (Contributory) is a weekly payment for people who have reached pensionable age and have built up enough social insurance contributions. Entitlement depends on that contribution record, not on a test of income or savings — which is what separates it from the State Pension (Non-Contributory), a different payment under different conditions and not covered here.

Two methods are used to work out the weekly rate: the aggregated contributions method and the yearly average approach. The law is part-way through a ten-year switch from the second to the first. In 2026 the yearly average approach still carries the larger share of the blend, at 80% against 20%, and the weights move every year until 2034, when the aggregated contributions method applies on its own.

This section sets out the published tables and the rules that govern them. It does not work out an individual pension amount, and it is not a forecast. Only the Department of Social Protection holds your contribution record.

What this payment is called

The names people use for it vary. Old age pension, OAP, contributory pension, the Irish pension — all of them point at the payment described here. The legislation calls it the State Pension (Contributory), and that is the name used throughout this section, because it is the name the provisions cited on these pages use.

How it is taxed

The State Pension (Contributory) is reckonable income for income tax, but it is paid WITHOUT deduction of tax at source. Where tax is due it is collected against other income, or through the self-assessment system.

What the other pages cover

Pensionable age and deferring a claim — the age of 66, the option to defer to 70, and why there is no early State Pension.
The weekly rates — what is paid at each claim age, the increase for a qualified adult, and the other increases.
Contributions and the two methods — how each method works, which one applies to you, and what this page cannot answer.