The Government generated a record €23.4 billion budget surplus last year, driven in large part by the Apple tax money.
Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, published on Monday, showed total Government revenue, which includes taxes, social insurance and income on investments, rose by 20 per cent (€24.5 billion) to €148.3 billion in 2024.
Government coffers were boosted last year with almost €11 billion flowing in from Apple as a result of the high-profile European court ruling last September.
The CSO figures show total Government expenditure increased by 8 per cent to €125 billion, resulting in a budget surplus of €23.4 billion (equivalent to 4.4 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product), an improvement of €15.5 billion on the previous year.
The latest Government statistics show gross debt fell by €2.5 billion during 2024 with an end-year position of €218.2 billion, compared with the 2023 figure of €220.7 billion (43.3 per cent of GDP).
The latest figures saw the general government debt ratio decline to 40.9 per cent of GDP at year end 2024.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) has warned that Ireland will effectively avoid any financial scrutiny under the EU’s incoming fiscal rules, posing a potential threat to the exchequer, because of the EU’s focus on GDP.
The council claims that debt and deficit ratios look overly benign in Ireland because GDP here is artificially inflated by multinational activity such as contract manufacturing.
“Like a motorway with unenforced speed limits, Ireland will for the most part be left to its own devices,” IFAC chief Seamus Coffey told an Oireachtas committee last year.
The EU’s debt and deficit rules were suspended during the pandemic but a revamped version, allowing governments greater leeway to invest while attempting to clamp down on fiscal recklessness, is now on the table.
Using GDP, however, flatters Ireland’s true financial position, giving the State a debt-to-GDP ratio closer to 40 per cent versus the proposed 60 per cent limit when more accurate measures of national income put Ireland’s ratio at 70 per cent.
