Ireland's tax revenues have plunged by 800 million euro below expectations as the Government battles to deal with the Covid-19 health crisis.
The latest Exchequer figures show the huge hole in the country's finances has been driven by the forbearance measures introduced last month.
The VAT receipts were half the level they were last year, representing an unprecedented fall and an indication of the difficulties businesses in Ireland face.
The tax revenues in March were nearly 1 billion euro lower than March last year, a decline of more than 20%.
The figures from the Department of Finance show Ireland recorded a deficit of 2.5 billion euro in the first three months of 2020.
The department said tax receipts for March amounted to 3,704 million euro, significantly under the monthly target by 22.5%.
This was due to a steep decline in VAT receipts as a result of non-payment arising from the Covid-19 crisis.
Releasing the figures on Thursday, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said tax revenues are set to decline steeply over the coming months.
Referring to the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their job due to the pandemic, Mr Donohoe said: "I want to very much acknowledge that behind the figures that have been released today are many, many citizens who never anticipated they would be in this position where they have lost so much income, or they have lost a job.
"I want to recognise that the speed with which that change has happened has been such a cause of additional anxiety to so many families, to so many businesses, and to so many citizens across our country here today.
"What the figures of today indicate is the scale of cost that we are facing on an economic level due to the impact of Covid-19 in our society.
"As a Government we've always been very clear that our first priority has to be to keep citizens safe from the spread of Covid-19."
He added that the Government is determined to build a new economy that will see incomes grow again.
