The Opposition has played down figures released by the Department of Finance today showing the hole in the public finances is slightly better than the Government predicted in its December budget.
The exchequer deficit now stands at €24.6 billion, a figure that is nearly double the deficit of €12.7 billion recorded in 2008.
The Government’s tax take plummeted to €33 billion last year, some €7.7 billion or 19 per cent down on 2008, the latest exchequer data shows. Total net expenditure for the year was €47 billion, some €221 million or 0.5 per cent less than anticipated.
Fine Gael's Richard Bruton said it would be "very foolish" to view the figures as a turning point for the economy.
“The Irish economy underwent a marked deterioration over the last 12 months, but the Government’s ill-thought out responses did nothing to limit the damage,” Mr Bruton said.
“The tax take for 2009 was some €10 billion less than projected at the time of the Budget in 2008, and €1.4 billion less than at last April’s emergency budget. While the December tax take appeared strong, this mostly reflected the move in the deadline for capital gains tax from the end of October in 2008 to mid-December in 2009. This led to a one-off boost in the year-on-year comparisons," he said.
"On the whole, however, the rate of deterioration in the public finances has not improved in any meaningful way. It would be very foolish to assume that these figures represent a turning point. Although December was above target, so were June and August, and no one is suggesting that these months showed a recovery was under way."
Mr Bruton accused Fianna Fáil of ignoring ignored the need for radical reform and going for the "easy options" to achieve a one-off improvement in the public finances.
Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said there was "little solace" to be taken from the figures.
"These poor returns highlight again the absence of a coherent jobs strategy. Rather than put in place a strategy to boost employment and growth, the Government continues to wait for the international economy to recover," she said.
"Nor do the deficit figures reflect the full extent of the resources committed to the banks in 2009," the Labour deputy leader said.
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (Isme) described the figures as “abysmal” and called on the Government to establish a national enterprise strategy.
The group's chief executive Mark Fielding said: “The reported exchequer deficit of almost €25 billion shows, beyond doubt, that the economy is on life support and the business sector requires an immediate action plan to get us out of this mess.”
With social partnership now dead in the water it is imperative that a new forum, with strong business interests, is introduced, to assist the Government in formulating policies for recovery,” he said.