The Government surplus of income over spending at the end of April was £111 million (€141 million), according to the latest figures from the Department of Finance.

The large surplus has been recorded despite a £355,842 national debt repayment and a slight slowdown in the rate of growth in tax receipts.

The surplus compares with a £40 million deficit at the same time last year.

Total tax receipts are some 11 per cent ahead of the same time last year, but this is slower than the 13 per cent rise recorded for the first three months of the year.

Nevertheless, the amount the Exchequer took in is still significantly ahead of the Budget target of a 7.5 per cent rise. Total tax receipts in the four months to the end of April came to £5.1 billion,up from £4.58 billion in the same period last year.

At the same time the rate of spending is a good deal higher than the Government target. According to Dr Dan McLaughlin, chief economist at ABN Amro, total supply service, or day to day, spending is 12.6 per cent up on last year, slightly back from the 14 per cent rise recorded in March but again well ahead of the Budget target of 9.3 per cent. He also said that it appeared capital spending was running below target.

However, a spokeswoman for the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said the Budget allocation to capital spending would be spent and part of the reason for the discrepancy is that Common Agriculture Policy payments - which come under the same heading - have not kicked in yet.

In the first four months of the year the Government spent about £4.3 billion on day-to-day items such as public service pay, up from £3.84 billion last year.