Covid-19 spending pushes state into €19bn budget deficit

Tax take drops less than expected to €57 billion, which lessens the impact of the pandemic on the state’s finances

Paschal Donohoe, the Finance Minister, said it was too early to tell what impact the move to level 5 restrictions would have on the deficit this year. Picture: Rollingnews.ie

The state swung to a deficit of €19 billion last year as it spent huge sums of money fighting the damage brought on the economy by the Covid-19 pandemic.

New figures released by the Department of Finance today show the state spent almost €18 billion more in 2020 compared to the previous year. This was mostly due to a surge in social welfare payments, as hundreds of thousands of workers were forced to claim employment ...