Assistant Principal is the grade where the interview changes character. Below it, boards want to know what you did. At AP they want to know what you decided, what you stopped, what you spent, and what you would say to the Minister. This guide covers the 2026 competitions, the money, how the application form drives the interview, the presentation, and the shift in level that catches strong HEOs out.
The role
An AP heads a unit. In a policy division that means owning an area (a Bill, a scheme, a funding line, a sector) and being the person who briefs the Principal and drafts for the Minister; in an operational area it means a section with several HEOs, a budget, targets and the escalations that reach the top of the building. APs sit on interdepartmental groups, negotiate with agencies, appear at Oireachtas committees behind the Principal, and increasingly run programmes with external delivery partners. The AP Capability Framework describes this as Strategy, Change and Reform; Analysis, Judgement and Decision Making; Leading, Motivating and Developing; Leading with Specialist Insight; Delivering Excellence; Digital Focus; Communicating and Influencing; Engaging and Collaborating. The words are the same as at HEO. The indicators behind them are not.
Pay in 2026
| Point | AP standard scale (PPC), from 1 June 2026 |
|---|---|
| 1 | €83,113 |
| 2 | €86,173 |
| 3 | €89,277 |
| 4 | €92,390 |
| 5 | €95,499 |
| 6 | €97,292 |
| LSI 1 | €100,427 |
| LSI 2 | €103,576 |
Assistant Principal Higher (€91,229 to €114,069) applies in specific circumstances. Promoted staff go to the point that gives an increase; external appointees normally start at point 1. The full set of grades is in the pay scales guide.
The 2026 competitions
The interdepartmental competition (Circular 23/2026, published 29 May 2026, closing 3pm 18 June 2026) is for serving civil servants and is run by publicjobs for DPER. The circular says it is not envisaged that appointments will be made after March 2028, so the panel has roughly a two-year life. It is run in conjunction with an open AP competition; candidates who are eligible for both sit each stage once and their scores carry across. Department-run AP competitions (the Pensions Authority’s Supervision and Enforcement post in July 2026 is a typical example) use the same framework and their own process, usually shortlisting, sometimes a preliminary interview, then a final interview with a presentation.
The 2024 cycle’s method list, unchanged in wording for 2026, allows: an online Assessment Questionnaire, online or paper tests, shortlisting, a competitive preliminary interview, interviews or online video interviews, a presentation or analysis exercise, a group exercise, a work sample test. Not all are used every year. Marks and pass rules for the interview are not published in the circular.
The application form is the first interview
The circular’s Appendix 1 is unusually direct: the form “requires you to outline your relevant experience, as well as seeking evidence and examples of your capability”, this “will be assessed during the shortlisting stage and will also inform the questions asked by the Interview Board”, and you are “not expected to demonstrate or touch on all the behavioural indicators”, only a selection. Three things follow. The examples on the form should be your strongest, because the board will open with them. They should be AP-level examples (see below), because they are scored against the AP indicators at shortlisting. And you need a second example per dimension in reserve, because a good board will exhaust the form in the first fifteen minutes.
The level shift
The most common feedback to HEOs who fail an AP interview is some version of “good examples, wrong grade”. The test is simple to state and hard to pass: in each example, what was your call, what did it cost, what was the risk you accepted, and who above or around you did you have to bring along? Compare:
| Sub-dimension | Reads as HEO | Reads as AP |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy, Change and Reform | Implemented a new process in my section on time. | Identified that the section’s model would not survive a policy change, built the case for restructuring, got the Principal and the union to agree, and led it. |
| Analysis, Judgement and Decision Making | Analysed the data and recommended an option. | Decided between two defensible options under time pressure, recorded the risk I was accepting, and defended it when it was questioned. |
| Leading, Motivating and Developing | Managed an underperforming EO to a good outcome. | Reset the expectations of a unit of HEOs, dealt with a manager who resisted, and changed who did what. |
| Engaging and Collaborating | Worked with another section to deliver a joint project. | Negotiated with an agency that had different objectives, found the trade, and held the relationship when it went wrong. |
Boards at this grade also ask directly for a view: what you would change in the area, what the department is getting wrong, what the risk on the horizon is. A candidate with no opinion reads as a very good HEO.
The presentation
Where used, the presentation is a topic sent in advance (a policy question, a management problem, “what would you prioritise in your first six months”) or given on the day with preparation time, five to ten minutes to present, then questions. Slides are optional and often not permitted. The board is marking whether you researched it (sources, numbers, what the department has already said), whether you reached a recommendation, and whether you can defend it under challenge. Expect to be asked what you would do if the Minister disagreed, what you left out, and what would change your mind. A balanced survey with no recommendation is the standard way to lose marks.
The rapid-fire board
Candidates in recent AP cycles describe boards that move fast: thirty to forty questions in an hour, short examples rather than long STAR narratives, probes that cut in after two sentences. This is not hostility; it is a board trying to cover eight sub-dimensions in fifty minutes. Prepare examples that can be told in ninety seconds with the decision up front, and be ready to go deeper only when asked.
Questions that come up
- Take us through your career and the point at which you started operating at AP level.
- What are this Department’s strategic priorities and which would land on your desk?
- Tell us about a decision you made that was unpopular with your own team or your Principal.
- Describe a time you had to reallocate resources or stop a piece of work. What did you weigh?
- Give an example of influencing a stakeholder whose objectives differed from yours.
- Tell us about a change programme you led. What resistance did you meet and what did you learn?
- What kind of leader are you, and what would the managers who report to you say?
- What would you find hardest about this grade, and how do you know?