Department plays down fears of a crisis budget

FEARS an emergency budget will be needed before autumn were played down by the Department of Finance despite gloomy end-of-year tax returns.

Exchequer figures showed the bank bailout continued to push the nation further into the red as the deficit rocketed from €18.7 billion to €24.9bn in 2011.

Tax returns were also down by €873 million from the original forecasts for the year, with pre-budget government kite-flying blamed by some experts for a drop in receipts.