IRISH shoppers have dramatically cut their use of plastic bags by 90%.

In the first three months since the new 15-cent plastic bag levy was introduced by the Government, some 277 million fewer bags were used.

First official receipts from the Revenue Commissioners show that the tax introduced in March raised 3.5m euro in the first three months - that came from 23 million bags compared with the 300 million that would normally be used.

The figures, due to be published later this week, also show the levy will raise 10m euro in the full year and have produced a dramatic change in Irish shopping habits.

Instead of using a staggering 1.2 billion plastic bags, shoppers will walk away from checkouts with just 120m plastic bags over a 12-month period in a sea change of shopping culture.

The 10m euro expected to be raised in the first year is to be used to establish a new Office for Environmental Enforcement and a nationwide service for the disposal of fridges and freezers.

The figures show that between March 4, when the plastic bag tax became law, and June 4, the Revenue Commissioners collected 3.5m euro from almost 3,000 retailers nationwide after they handed over 23 million bags - 277 million less than normal.