Irish women singers hit the high notes

MRS Worthington was right. Cailini na hEireann should be flung on to the stage if they are to mature into rich young women.

The Mail On Sunday's annual survey of the top earning women in the "British Isles" shows two Irish singers in the top 10 Dolores O'Riordan at number three earned £4.4 million in the past 12 months while Enya at number eight earned £3.3 million.

Topping the list for the third year running is author Barbara Taylor Bradford with earnings of £20 million.

Actress Angela Lansbury, star of TV's Murder She Wrote, earned £55 million, which placed her second.

However, the survey is based on insider industry information and informed guesswork, so the figures are not totally accurate. Moreover, they apply solely to income earned in the last 12 months so women who have been at the money making lark for several years (Ms Taylor Bradford is 62, Ms Lansbury is 70) are rich beyond the worst misogynist's nightmare.

Dolores O'Riordan (24) hash jumped from fifth on the list to three this year thanks to The Cranberries selling 20 million copies of their first two albums as chief songwriter her royalty payments are enormous. Donegal singer Enya (33) earns her placing not just from selling millions of copies of her new album, The Memory Of Trees, but also from steady sales of previous work.

Two other Irish women also make the top 20. Author and journalist Maeve Binchy ranks 13th with earnings of £2 million cast year. Maeve Binchy who, according to the Mail On Sunday "drives a Mercedes", sold 2.5 million copies of her books around the world last year. Ms Margaret Heffernan of Dunnes Stores comes in at number 18 with earnings of £1.5 million for 1995.

The world of entertainment provides about 90 per cent of the top 50 earners with only one businesswoman, Christina Ong (who owns the franchise for Armani shops in Britain) in the top 10 at number nine.

Margaret Thatcher is the only politician in the top 50 (at number 16) with her earnings of £1.6 million coming from speaking/hectoring engagements.

The wane of the supermodels is reflected in the fact that only one sashay-ed into the top 20 - Kate Moss at number 15. Others on the slide include Body Shop owner Anita Roddick, number 41, who is down to her last £716,842, while actress cum writer Joan Collins scrapes into the last 50 on £550,000 a year.

The predictable roll call of Delia Smith (number six), Ruth Rendell (number 10), Elizabeth Hurley (number 28) and Emma Thompson (number 35) is livened up somewhat by two new entries.

True to financial form they are both singers. P.J. Harvey (an English singer managed by Paul McGuinness) debuts at number 20 and the woman described the "Edith Piaf of the 90s", Beth Gibbons from Portishead, enters at number 48.

With 29 millionaires in the tops 50, it seems women have finally overcome the problem of the glass, ceiling. They've bought it and knocked through.