* Deficit almost twice as bad year on year
* Pace of decline appears to be slowing down
By Padraic Halpin
DUBLIN, May 5 (Reuters) - Ireland was 7.3 billion euros ($9.78 billion) in the red at the end of April, a deficit almost twice the shortfall of 3.7 billion euros at the same point last year but in line with government expectations, data on Tuesday showed.
Tax revenue dropped to 10.1 billion euros last month, compared with 13.26 billion recorded a year earlier, the finance ministry said.
The amount of revenue collected was again dragged down by housing related receipts with three times less capital gains tax collected year-on-year and a fall in stamp duty almost as severe.
Economists took some solace in the fact that the pace of decline at least appeared to be slowing down with April's year-on-year drop in revenues of just below 24 percent only slightly worse that the 23.5 percent dip at the end of March.
The government has said revenues this year could be just 34 billion euros, nearly 20 percent down on last year.
"They're pretty much in line with the numbers from the budget a couple of weeks ago which is a relief," Dermot O'Leary, chief economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers said, referring to the second emergency budget in six months unveiled in April.
"Overall though tax revenue data is probably the most up to date view we have on the Irish economy and judging by this data it has deteriorated dramatically."
As well as the falls in capital gains and stamp duty, the 533,000 euros collected in corporation tax compared to the near 1 million brought in over the same period last year indicated that the Irish economy's profitability was also suffering.
Income tax held up quite well despite another 16,000 hitting the jobless queues in April with a little under 3.8 billion euros taken in, down from just over 4 billion last year.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan's new tax measures aimed at raising 1.8 billion euros in 2009 will only begin to impact subsequent month's, particularly with the doubling of income tax levies hitting pay packets from May 1.
"We'll have initial indications at the end of May of what the budget has done in terms of income tax receipts and have a better picture of the full year by the end of June," Rossa White, Chief Economist at Davys said.
(Editing by Ron Askew)