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

That 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, cigarettes and alcohol are among those contributing to the rise.

John Palmer is from the Department of Finance.

The level of income tax was slightly lower than expected at €4.3bn.

But economist Jim Power says the figure is too small to be of concern.