State collects €11.2bn in revenue in Q1

The State has taken in €11.2bn in the first three months of the year.

The figure is an increase of 6.4% compared to the first quarter of last year, but 3.4 % less than expected.

Excise duty has performed particularly strongly in the past year – increasing by almost 30% to €1.5bn.

New cars, as well as cigarettes and alcohol are among those contributing to the rise, according to John Palmer from the Department of Finance.

"The big contributors there, particularly in the year-on-year picture are VRT, not surprising given the type of car sales, tobacco … but we can say that pretty much every element, spirits, beers, oils, carbon taxes, they are all up, year-on-year," he said.