The government finances are something that always seems to baffle people. The CSO and Eurostat provide great detail but it can be hard to navigate. Below see some charts that I have extracted from these. The raw data (in summarized form) are also below.
Total Irish government revenue and expenditure, in 000m. Note the reasonably broad balance over time and then the effect of the banking crisis…
- Breakdown of main spending headings of Irish government
Main revenue headings as % total revenue. Yes, capital taxes are that small…..
Are we really that highly taxed? Direct and Indirect taxes as % GxP
The interest burden on the state finances is going the wrong way…
Public Sector wages (pensions are included in social section) are <30% total spending
Total social expenditure (social welfare, state and PS pensions etc) now accounts for 50% total state revenue… See how that shot up when the recession hit?
Here are the data if you want to play round some more
Brian M. Lucey 
Interesting. Thanks for that Brian.
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