Exchequer deficit for the first quarter of the year is €3.7 billion, which is more than ten times the figure for the first three months of 2008.
The deficit stood at just €354 million at the end of the same period last year.
Figures released by the Department of Finance this evening show that tax revenue is down by €2.6 billion, or 23%, and spending is up by €680 million, or 6%, above last year.
In a statement, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said the figures were further evidence of the weakness of the Irish economy.
He added that while spending has been successfully contained in most areas, the increased numbers out of work have caused social welfare payments to increase by 12% on last year.
Government ministers have agreed the cutbacks to be announced in next week's budget.
A Department of Finance spokesman says the Cabinet signed off on the cuts this evening.
Final decisions of tax increases still have to be made.
Reacting to the exchequer figures, Alan McQuaid of Bloxham Stockbrokers said they showed that the Government will need to raise in the region of €6 million in next week's supplementary Budget to reach the target of 9.5% of GDP deficit for this year offered to the European Commission in January.
He said the Government's prediction of a real decline of 6.75% is 'overly optimistic', and said the decline is currently running at 12.75%.
The Director of the Small Firms Association, Patricia Callan, claimed the figures 'show clearly that the private sector simply can no longer afford to pay for the public sector.
'The reason that tax revenues are so down is that the private sector economy is being decimated by the recession,' she added.
