Ireland sees 2015 budget deficit of 2.2 percent/GDP

DUBLIN, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 2 (Reuters) - Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) expects a budget deficit of 2.2 percent of GDP this year, falling to around 1.5 percent next year, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said on Friday.

Noonan said he expects the country will collect around 2 billion euros ($2.23 billion) more tax than expected this year and said he was basing this month's annual budget on gross domestic product growth of 6.2 percent in 2015 and 4.2 percent in 2016.

($1 = 0.8959 euros) (Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by John Stonestreet)