THERE WAS A €2 billion improvement in the Exchequer surplus at the end of 2025 when receipts from the Apple tax ruling were excluded.

A headline Exchequer surplus of €7.1 billion was recorded in 2025, which was down €5.7 billion on 2024.

However, this comparison was affected by revenues arising out of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Apple ruling – in which Ireland was ordered to collect more than €13 billion in back taxes from the tech multinational.

When those revenues are excluded, an underlying surplus of €3.8 billion was recorded – up €2 billion on 2024.

The surplus is also higher than expected as billions of euro of strategic capital investment in infrastructure companies were not all drawn down.

Tax revenue in 2025 stood at €107.4 billion, which was €600 million down on the previous year. However, when the Apple proceeds are excluded, the underlying €105.7 billion in tax receipts is actually up on 2024 by €8.6 billion.

Gross revenue in 2025 stood at €133.3 billion, an increase of €4.1 billion on 2024.

Non-tax revenue and capital resources for the year were at €7.3 billion.

This was up by €4.1 billion, which the Department of Finance said was primarily driven by transfers from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to fund capital contributions to Uisce Eireann and ESB, as well as transfers to the Exchequer arising from the Apple ruling.

Appropriations-in-aid of €18.6 billion brought total other revenue to €25.9 billion.

Total expenditure in the year was €126.2 billion – which included gross voted expenditure stood at €109.4 billion, up 5.5% on 2024.

Non-voted expenditure accounted for €16.9 billion, up by €4.1 billion on 2024 – including the transfer of two billion euro to the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund in 2025.

At a press conference on the release of the figures, Department of Finance chief economist John McCarthy said the surplus was slightly higher than what was expected in the Budget and warned there would be a “one-off deterioration” this year.

He said this was because Budget 2026 allocated €5.5 billion for strategic capital investment into ESB, Eirgrid and Uisce Eireann that was not all taken up.

“The 1.5 billion to ESB went out in December. The other four billion did not go out because the companies, they didn’t need it – they didn’t have a treasury function,” he said.

Department of Finance chief economist John McCarthy Rollingnews.ie Rollingnews.ie

“So if they had all this cash, they wouldn’t be able to manage it but what Government has said is they will provide the funds as soon as they are needed.

“So at the moment, and as per the Budget-day numbers, we are targeting an Exchequer deficit of 1.9 billion. If the companies come to us and say we want our four billion next year – it would then reduce the deficit further next year,” McCarthy said.