The amount of corporation tax paid by the 10 biggest multinationals in Ireland has doubled during the past five years.

According to the Department of Finance, these firms paid over €2.8bn to the Irish exchequer last year.

These companies include Microsoft, Google, Dell and Oracle - the jump represents a 100% increase since 2011.

Earlier in July when the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released official figures indicating economic growth of 26% - this reflected, in part, the increase in activity from these firms.

The figures were supplied in response to a parliamentary question from Michael McGrath, Fianna Fáil finance spokesman. He has raised concerns about the the Irish economy becoming over-reliant on a small group of companies:

"These figures show a remarkable growth in our dependence on a small number of multinational companies for corporation tax receipts ... While we all hope these receipts are a recurring feature of our taxation system, it would be very unwise to build up permanent spending commitments on the back of it.

"That is why Fianna Fáil proposed that a rainy day fund be established for such unexpected and unpredictable corporation tax revenue," he continued.