Last updated: August 2026. Human written and fact checked against each named source.
Ireland’s painting and decorating trade is bigger than it has been at any census, yet older, still overwhelmingly male, and refilling more slowly than it is ageing: more than eight thousand painters are at work while barely two dozen new apprentices registered in the most recent year reported. This page collects the current figures on the trade, who painters are, what they earn, what the law says they must be paid, what paint costs, and where the work is coming from. Every number links to the Central Statistics Office, the Workplace Relations Commission, the Department of Public Expenditure, SEAI or SCSI release it came from. It is written for journalists, trade bodies, career guidance teachers and anyone who needs a verified Irish figure on the decorating trade.
Key Painting and Decorating Trade Statistics for Ireland at a Glance
- 8,204 painters and decorators were at work in Ireland on Census night 2022, up from 7,244 in 2016 and 5,679 in 2011, an increase of 44.5% over eleven years (calculated). Source: CSO Census 2022, table F7049
- 58.9% of painters and decorators are self-employed: 3,649 work alone and 1,180 employ staff (calculated). Source: CSO Census 2022, table F7050
- The average painter is 46.8 years old, against 43.0 for all workers, and the average age has risen from 43.9 in 2011. Source: CSO Census 2022, table F7051
- 215 painters and decorators are women, 2.6% of the trade, up from 133 in 2011 (calculated). Source: CSO Census 2022, table F7050
- The statutory minimum rate for a qualified craftsperson, including painters, is €23.74 an hour from 1 August 2026, up from €23.00. Source: Workplace Relations Commission, Construction Sectoral Employment Order
- Average weekly earnings in construction were €1,027.45 in the first quarter of 2026, up 27.1% on the same quarter of 2021 (calculated). Source: CSO Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs, table EHQ03
- Only 23 new painting and decorating apprentices registered in 2022, down from 161 in 2006, a fall of 86% (calculated). Source: Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Apprenticeships analytical note, 2024
- There is one painter or decorator for every 224 occupied homes in Ireland (calculated from Census 2022). Sources: CSO tables F7049 and FY033A
- Wholesale prices for paints, oils and varnishes rose 8.4% in the year to June 2026, the fastest of any building material that month. Source: CSO Wholesale Price Index, table WPM39
- The construction sector had 81,043 active enterprises in 2023 and 188,600 people were employed in construction in the second quarter of 2026. Sources: CSO Business Demography, table BRA31 and CSO Labour Force Survey, table QLF03
How Many Painters and Decorators Work in Ireland
Census 2022 recorded 8,204 people at work as painters and decorators, the highest count at any of the last three censuses. The trade stood at 5,679 in 2011, in the aftermath of the construction crash, rose to 7,244 in 2016 and added another 13.3% by 2022 (CSO Census 2022, table F7049; growth rates calculated). Of those at work in 2022, 6,062, or 73.9%, worked within the construction sector itself, with the remainder spread across manufacturing, property, retail and other industries (calculated from table F7049).
The neighbouring wet trades follow the same pattern. Plasterers numbered 5,018 in 2022, up from 4,285 in 2016, and construction and building trades supervisors 3,613 (CSO table F7049). Set against the housing stock, the numbers are thin: with 1,836,728 occupied dwellings in the State, there is one painter or decorator for every 224 occupied homes, before counting commercial, retail, office and industrial work (calculated from CSO table FY033A).
Who Ireland’s Painters Are: Self-Employment, Gender and Age
Painting is a trade of sole traders. Of the 8,204 painters and decorators counted in 2022, 3,649 were self-employed without employees and 1,180 were self-employed with staff, so 58.9% of the trade works for itself, and only 3,346 are employees (CSO Census 2022, table F7050; share calculated). Plastering is similar, with 2,922 of 5,018 plasterers, or 58.2%, self-employed (calculated from table F7050).
The trade remains overwhelmingly male. 7,989 painters and decorators are men and 215 are women, a female share of 2.6%. The number of women has risen 62% since 2011, when there were 133, but from a very low base (CSO table F7050; shares calculated).
It is also ageing. The average painter and decorator was 46.8 years old in 2022, up from 45.2 in 2016 and 43.9 in 2011, and nearly four years older than the 43.0 average across all occupations (CSO Census 2022, table F7051). Plasterers average 43.6 years. An older workforce with a weak apprentice intake, covered below, points to tighter capacity and longer lead times through the late 2020s.
What Painters Earn and What the Law Requires
The CSO’s earnings series does not break out painters separately, but it does cover the construction sector they mostly work in. Average weekly earnings in construction were €1,027.45 in the first quarter of 2026, against €1,075.58 across all sectors. Construction hours are longer, 35.4 paid hours a week against 32.5 for all sectors, so average hourly earnings of €29.00 sit below the all-sector €33.14 (CSO table EHQ03). Construction weekly earnings have risen 27.1% in five years, from €808.61 in the first quarter of 2021 (calculated from table EHQ03).
Minimum pay in the trade is set by law, not by the market alone. The Construction Sectoral Employment Order lists painters by name among the qualified craftspersons it covers, and sets these statutory minimum hourly rates (Workplace Relations Commission, S.I. No. 620 of 2024):
| Classification | 1 Aug 2025 to 31 Jul 2026 | From 1 Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Craftsperson (includes painters) | €23.00 per hour | €23.74 per hour |
| Category A worker | €22.32 per hour | €23.03 per hour |
| Category B worker | €20.71 per hour | €21.37 per hour |
| New entrant operative | €16.74 per hour | €17.28 per hour |
| Apprentice, year 1 (33.33% of craft rate) | €7.67 per hour | €7.91 per hour |
| Apprentice, year 4 (90% of craft rate) | €20.70 per hour | €21.37 per hour |
These are legal minimums for employees of construction sector employers; overtime attracts time and a half to double time, and the order also requires pension contributions. A self-employed painter quoting for work is not bound by them, but they anchor labour pricing across the trade. A 39 hour week at the craft rate from August 2026 comes to about €926 before overtime (calculated).
The Apprenticeship Pipeline
Painting and decorating is a four year, QQI Level 6 craft apprenticeship delivered through SOLAS, the Education and Training Boards and TU Dublin (TU Dublin, Painting and Decorating Apprenticeship). The intake numbers are the most striking statistic in the trade. A 2024 analytical note by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform records 161 painting and decorating apprenticeship registrations in 2006, 112 in 2007, 43 in 2021 and just 23 in 2022, a fall of 86% from the peak (D/PENDR, Apprenticeships: Trends and Profiles, 2024; decline calculated).
Plastering has fallen the same way, from 220 registrations in 2006 to 31 in 2022, and carpentry and joinery from 1,907 to 713. Construction sector apprenticeship registrations as a whole dropped from 4,514 in 2006 to 1,820 in 2022, even as electrical apprenticeships grew past 2,600 (same source). Set 23 new registrations against 8,204 working painters with an average age of 46.8, and the replacement rate is far below what the trade needs to hold its size through the 2030s.
The Businesses Behind the Trade
The construction sector counted 81,043 active enterprises in 2023, employing 206,446 people, and 11,409 new construction enterprises were born that year (CSO Business Demography, table BRA31). Labour Force Survey data puts total employment in construction at 188,600 in the second quarter of 2026, slightly down from 190,300 a year earlier (CSO table QLF03). The earnings survey, which covers employees only, records 153,500 construction employees in the first quarter of 2026 (CSO table EHQ03); the gap between the two figures is largely the self-employed.
Painting and decorating firms sit at the small end of this population. With 58.9% of painters self-employed and most painting businesses in the under ten persons size class, the trade is highly fragmented: when Revenue’s Home Renovation Incentive required contractors to register between 2013 and 2019, 14,520 individual contractors did so across all renovation trades (Revenue, HRI Statistics 2013 to 2020).
Paint Prices and the Cost of Decorating
Materials have been the trade’s sharpest cost pressure. The wholesale price index for paints, oils and varnishes stood at 145.1 in June 2026, up 8.4% in twelve months, the fastest increase of any building and construction material the CSO tracked that month, and up 48.4% since January 2021 (CSO Wholesale Price Index, table WPM39; five year rise calculated). Plaster sits at 144.9, effectively flat year on year.
What consumers pay has moved more slowly. The consumer price sub index for materials for the maintenance and repair of the dwelling rose 3.7% in the year to July 2026, while services for the maintenance and repair of the dwelling, the line that captures trades such as painters, rose 0.9%. Over five years the services index is up 19.7% (CSO Consumer Price Index, table CPM24; five year change calculated). The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland named labour costs and contractor availability as the main drivers of the 7% rise in house rebuilding costs in the year to November 2025 (SCSI, November 2025).
Where the Work Is Coming From
Demand indicators for decorating all point the same way. 46.3% of the 29,574 planning permissions granted in 2025 were for extensions, alterations or renovations, and extensions outnumbered new dwellings (calculated from CSO table BHA03). SEAI grant schemes supported energy upgrades in more than 58,600 homes in 2025, and nearly every retrofit ends with plastering and repainting (SEAI, August 2026). 61,550 dwellings changed hands in the year to June 2026, and homes are commonly repainted around a sale (calculated from CSO table HPM02). The housing stock behind that demand, two thirds of it built before 2001 and one in five homes affected by damp or leaks, is set out in our home renovation statistics for Ireland.
The homes this trade maintains are profiled in our housing stock statistics for Ireland: 2.11 million dwellings, 65.4% of them built before 2001, with 36,215 new homes added in 2025.
Method and Sources
All figures on this page were checked at source in August 2026. Painter, plasterer and supervisor counts, employment status, gender and average age are from CSO Census 2022 tables F7049, F7050 and F7051 (censuses of 2011, 2016 and 2022). Construction earnings, hours and employee numbers are from CSO table EHQ03 (first quarter 2026, published July 2026), and total construction employment from the Labour Force Survey, table QLF03 (second quarter 2026). Statutory pay rates are from the Construction Sectoral Employment Order, S.I. No. 620 of 2024, as published by the Workplace Relations Commission, with rates effective 1 August 2025 and 1 August 2026. Apprenticeship registrations are from the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform analytical note Apprenticeships: Trends and Profiles (2024). Enterprise counts are from CSO Business Demography table BRA31 (2023). Price indices are from CSO tables WPM39 (June 2026) and CPM24 (July 2026), rebuild costs from the SCSI press release of 4 November 2025, and demand figures from CSO tables BHA03 and HPM02 and SEAI statements of April and August 2026. Where a share, ratio or percentage change is described as calculated, it was derived by OS Decor from the named table and the working is available on request. The page will be refreshed when Census 2027 occupation results publish, after each quarterly CSO earnings release, and when the next Sectoral Employment Order rates are made.
How OS Decor Helps
OS Decor is a Dublin painting and decorating company with qualified, insured painters working on homes, offices, retail units and commercial buildings across Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. If you are pricing a project against the figures above, our commercial painting Dublin team can survey the job and give you a written quote, and homeowners can start with our house painting Dublin service or contact us directly.
