The cost of paying interest to service the national debt hit €4.8 billion last year, according to results published by the National Treasury Management Agency.
At the end of 2010, the national debt stood at €93.4bn, the agency said.
The General Government Debt, which includes money committed to the banks through Government promissory notes and the debt of local authorities and non-commercial semi-State companies, was €148.6bn.
In his statement alongside the agency's annual results, NTMA Chief Executive John Corrigan says 2010 was undoubtedly a challenging year.
The agency, which is responsible for managing the national debt and for borrowing money on behalf of the State, issued €20bn worth of debt last year.
Although it has withdrawn its monthly bond auctions since October because of the prohibitive interest rates being demanded by investors to lend money to Ireland, the NTMA confirmed today that it does not have to seek agreement from the European Union or International Monetary Fund to begin raising money again and will do so when market conditions permit.
The NTMA also oversees the operation of the National Asset Management Agency.
Over the year, it says NAMA has made €2bn in asset sales to pay down debt.
Fine Gael's Michael Noonan said the €4.8bn debt cost was ‘sucking resources away from other vital services’.
