The Finance Minister says the target of cuts in the Budget will be somewhat less than the planned €3.1 billion euro.
Michael Noonan's comments come as new figures show that tax take for the first nine months of the year, is in line with the Government's expectations.
The latest Exchequer returns show that by the end of September just under €26.9 billion in revenue was collected.
It represents an increase of almost 3% on the same period last year.
Public spending is €879 million or 2.7% under projections and €1.6 billion or 5% on the same time in 2012.
As a result, the Excheqeur deficit stands at €7.1 billion.
Our News Correspondent Fergal O'Brien reports:
