The Republic’s 11 billionaires are collectively wealthier than 3.46 million people in the State, according to Oxfam Ireland.
In a report highlighting widening inequality globally, in advance of the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland on Monday, the charity said that total Irish billionaire wealth stood at €46.3 billion at the end of last year, up 2 per cent over 12 months.
The 3.46 million people that their combined wealth eclipses equate to about 85 per cent of the adults in the State and 63 per cent of the 5.46 million estimated usual residential population, according to Central Statistics Office data.
The report is based on Forbes’s latest billionaire list, which puts Stripe founders and brothers John and Patrick Collison, who are estimated to be worth $10.1 billion (€8.7 billion), as the Republic’s wealthiest.
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They are followed by John Grayken, founder of Dallas-based private equity business Lone Star Funds and an active investor in Ireland, with an estimated net wealth of $7.3 billion. Mr Grayken renounced his US citizenship in 1999 for tax purposes and took an Irish passport instead.
Globally, the 12 richest billionaires – led by Tesla chief executive and X owner Elon Musk, Google cofounder Larry Page, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – have more wealth than the poorest half of the global population of 8.3 billion, according to Oxfam.
Billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people, it added.
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“Economic inequality is fuelling political capture worldwide. A new oligarchy is emerging as the super-rich shape the rules. Billionaires own the media, dominate digital spaces and buy influence,” said Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken.
“Too many governments are siding with the powerful, not the public. The results are stark: rising extremism and authoritarianism, declining democracy, the shutting down of protest, attacks on marginalised communities, and the vandalism of our online ecosystems.
“The choice is clear: oligarchy or democracy. We cannot have both.”
Oxfam called on the State to use its upcoming EU presidency, which starts in July, to push for greater regulation of big tech to fight disinformation and hate online and for the cancellation of unsustainable debt in developing countries. It also urged the Government to “fairly tax the super-rich”.
US president Donald Trump is poised to headline the biggest roll call of world leaders ever to attend the WEF, with the forum warning in advance that trade wars and economic disputes pose the biggest threat to global stability in 2026.
Mr Trump vowed on Saturday to impose fresh tariffs on eight allies opposed to his proposed takeover of Greenland. The list comprises the UK, Norway and six EU members, including Germany and France. The US president insists the autonomous Danish territory is critical for national security and has not ruled out taking it by force.
The WEF says a record 400 political leaders, including 64 heads of state and government, will attend this year’s gathering. Six of the seven G7 leaders are expected to attend, as is Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
China’s large delegation will be led by vice-premier He Lifeng, who plays a key role overseeing economic policy in Beijing.
The Forbes list of Irish billionaires has Indian-born engineering tycoon Shapoor Mistry, who controls construction conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group, in fourth position, with wealth of $7.1 billion. He is an Irish citizen.
Mr Mistry’s nephews, Firoz and Zahan Mistry, come next with fortunes of about $3.6 billion each.
Campbell’s Soup empire heir John Dorrance ($3.2 billion), businessman Denis O’Brien ($3.1 billion), Kingspan founder Eugene Murtagh ($2.6 billion), financier Dermot Desmond ($2.3 billion), and the founder of hedge fund Egerton Capital John Armitage ($1.5 billion) make up the rest, according to Forbes.
