Ireland recorded a surplus of €23bn last year, according to provisional figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This includes over €13bn in Apple tax money that was the feature of a dispute between the US giant, Ireland and the European Commission.

The provisional CSO figures indicate a significant increase on the surpluses recorded in 2023 and 2022 (€8.3bn and €8.6bn respectively).

They also indicate that the Government debt ratio fell to 40.9% of GDP at the end of 2024, compared to 52.6% three years ago.

The figure will be finalised when Government accounts are published on April 22.

Ireland is in the process of recovering €13bn – plus interest – in corporation tax from Apple after the European Commission successfully argued it had been given undue tax benefits that were illegal under EU state aid rules.

Apple and the Government had argued the correct amount of tax had been paid and fought the commission in a years-long legal dispute.

The ruling was criticised by US president Donald Trump when he met Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the White House last month.

The CSO recorded the full Apple tax amount in the year 2024, after the final ruling was issued.