The State shaved €5.7 billion off its national debt last year, reducing it to pre-pandemic levels, figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
As a result, the State owes about €38,460 on average per person, down from about €40,070 a year earlier, due to a mix of population changes and strong budgetary finances.
Government finance statistics for 2025, published on Tuesday, show a surplus of €11.2 billion in the State’s coffers, the fourth year in a row in which we recorded a surplus.
Taken together, the period 2022-2025 generated a surplus of just over €50 billion, driven by tax receipts of almost €400 billion.
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As a result of last year’s surplus, gross debt fell by €5.7 billion to €209.9 billion, while the population in Ireland rose by 78,300 people and stood at 5,458,600 people as of April last year.
Notionally, each individual owes about €38,460 on average, down from €40,070 a year earlier.
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The national debt last year equated to 62 per cent of national income as measured by the CSO’s bespoke economic growth measure of gross national income.
The CSO data also shows State expenditure was up by €8.1 billion, or 6.5 per cent, in the year to €133.8 billion.
Capital investment increased by €3 billion, or 21.2 per cent, while pay increases contributed to a rise in the compensation of employees of €2.1 billion, or 6.3 per cent.
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Social benefits increased by €500 million, or 1.2 per cent, while capital transfers, which include investment grants to semi-state enterprises, stood at €5.1 billion, an increase of €2.3 billion or 84.4 per cent.
Interest expenditure fell by €300 million, which was consistent with the decrease in general government debt.
Government revenue fell to €145.1 billion in the year, which was a decrease of €4 billion on 2024.
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However, it should be noted the 2024 accounts included one-off revenue of €14.2 billion arising from the Apple ruling in the Court of Justice of the European Union. Excluding the Apple money, revenue increased by €10.3 billion, or 6.9 per cent.
Direct taxes, which includes both income and corporation tax, reached €73 billion and accounted for €6.7 billion of the increase in tax revenue.
The €32.9 billion corporation tax figure represented a €4.8 billion, or 17.2 per cent, increase on 2024.
Corporation tax receipts have doubled since 2021. Income tax has also continued to increase, rising by €1.6 billion, or 4.4 per cent, to €36.9 billion for the year.
Indirect taxes, which includes VAT, grew by 5 per cent, to €37.6 billion. Social contributions, which are mainly made up of pay related social insurance (PRSI), were €24.6 billion in the year, an increase of €1.6 billion, or 7.1 per cent.
The figures show the value of the State’s assets in equity and investment fund shares stood at €32 billion, which represented a year-on-year fall of €2.3 billion.
This was largely explained by a net sell-off by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund of the remaining shares held by the State in AIB.
Investment in debt securities rose significantly, with holdings standing at €42.8 billion at the end of the year. This represented an increase of €15.6 billion since the end of 2024.
The majority of these assets are held by the National Treasury Management Agency, which has continued to invest significantly in short-term foreign treasury bills in recent years for the purpose of attracting a more favourable rate of return on Exchequer cash reserves.
