The amount of money needed to join Ireland’s latest rich list has skyrocketed by €5million in the past year, as the country boasts one of the world’s highest proportions of billionaires.
A whopping €57million is now needed to be one of the country’s top 300 richest people, it was revealed on Sunday.
A full €159million is needed to join the top 100 people in the country.
The richest 300 people in Ireland are now worth a record combined total of €87billion, up 10% from last year’s previous record high of €79billion.
Ireland is now home to one of the highest proportions of billionaires amongst the 4.8million population.
There is now approximately one billionaire in Ireland for every 282,000 people - almost twice the amount in countries such as the US, Sweden and Kuwait, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2019.
This means that Ireland now has a total of 17 billionaires - whose combined assets amount to nearly as much as the combined wealth of the other 283 multimillionaires.
Firmly holding onto the top spot on the list for the eleventh year running is former model and retailer Hilary Weston and her children, Alannah and Galen Jr.
Worth €11.932billion, the family’s businesses include Penneys - known as Primark internationally - as well as Selfridges, Twinings and Ryvita.
Tipperary brothers Patrick and John Collison, who made their fortune with their online payments company Stripe, are second on the Rich List, worth €5billion.
Campbell’s soup magnate John Dorrance, who lives in south Dublin, comes in third on the list, having amassed a fortune of €2.6billion.
A number of athletes feature, with Rory McIlroy the highest-ranked sportsperson.
The golf star’s wealth is up €32million from last year, to €157million.
Controversial MMA fighter Conor McGregor also fought his way up the Sunday Times Rich List, increasing his wealth by €30million to €115million.
This spike in wealth was largely thanks to pay-per-view revenue on his fights and lucrative sponsorship deals.
A number of well-known Irish entertainers increased their wealth this year, including U2, Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan.
US increased their wealth by €15million to €662million, thanks in part to their hugely successful Innocence + Experience tour last year.
A game-changing Lotto wins earlier this year for the Rogers family meant that they also made it onto the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List.
The North Dublin family snuck in to take 89th place on the rich list, after their €175million Euromillions win last month.
A New Year lotto win worth €131million for Frances and Patrick Connolly, from Co Down, also earned them a place on the list, coming in at 125th place.
Most of this year’s wealth can be attributed to Internet commerce, while the second biggest source of wealth for those on the list was the beef production sector.
And while many of the country’s fat cats saw their wealth increase, a number saw their fortunes decline.
Digicel boss Denis O’Brien saw the biggest downturn to his wealth, losing €1.8billion - although he still comes in at Number Six on the Rich List - while Michael O’Leary lost his euro billionaire status.
The Ryanair boss saw his monetary worth fall by €167million to €865million.
The Sunday Times Rich List of Ireland’s wealthiest people include those born, resident or with their main businesses on the island of Ireland.
It does not include people who hold Irish passports but do not have direct involvement in the country.
