Irish tax take 4 pct above target at end-June

DUBLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) 's tax take was 4.1 percent or over 800 million euros above target at the end of June, with income, corporation and value-added taxes all growing strongly, data showed on Thursday.

Government spending in the first six months of the year was also 1.5 percent or just over 300 million euros ($330 million)lower than anticipated, Ireland's finance department said.

The exchequer posted a deficit of 292 million euro at the end of June, down sharply from a deficit of 4.9 billion at the same point last year.

If one-off items are excluded, the end-June deficit would have been 2.7 billion euros smaller than a year earlier, rather than the 4.6 billion euros reduction reported, it said.

Ireland's budget deficit is forecast by government to fall below 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. ($1 = 0.9010 euros) (Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)