There is further evidence this evening that the government may be able to ease up on austerity in the October budget. Exchequer returns show the coalition has taken in €500 million more than planned for.
Officially at the end of June the coalition is 221 million better off than forecast last budget day.
But a delay of a number of days in payments, due to the SEPA payments system, means the coalition has actually raised another €285 million extra on top of that in the first six months of the year.
That means Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin have raised €506 million more than expected - with income tax, VAT and excise duties all performing better than expected - and stamp duties on homes and commercial property doing better than thought.
Spending across government is slightly less than expected with a €178 million overspend in health, but social protection, education and other departments have under-spent by more than that.
In a joint statement, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure say the figures show a solid performance and re-iterate the plan to get the deficit below 3% next year - a task probably made a little easier with the better than expected returns.
"The Exchequer returns for the first half of the 2014 represent a solid performance in terms of both tax and expenditure. In line with the improvement in the domestic economy, the reduction in the live register and the increase in employment levels, tax revenues are growing and expenditure on public services is within Budget" they said.
"The steps taken to stabilise the public finances over the last number of years have laid the foundation for the improvements in the domestic economy and, most importantly, the increase in jobs that we are now seeing. With the gap between the income and expenditure of the State running at just under €5 billion for the first half of this year, this Government is committed to narrowing this gap, reducing our borrowing and meeting the deficit target of under 3% by 2015" they added.
