A survey by computer services outfit Cap Gemini and investment bank Merrill Lynch has estimated that this State's 15,000 highest "net worth" people control assets of more than €43 billion. This breaks down to an average of almost €2.9 million per person. By the survey's definition, high "net worth" punters must have assets of €1.2 million ($1m), excluding home property.
So, breaking your back to own a big house in a fashionable suburb - even if the house's value is rising by four figures every week - won't allow you to make the cut. To make the list of the richest 15,000 you need nearly €3 million as well as the house. One in every 260 (or almost four in every 1,000 people) in Ireland has, according to the survey, the necessary loot.
In an Irish town with a population of, say, 20,000, between 75 and 80 people, on average, would have the money to propel them into the richest 15,000 individuals in the State. Of course, wealth between towns is distributed almost as unequally as it is between individuals. Still, even such crudely averaged figures provide an outline for the skewed financial wealth of this society.
They also show why Sinn Féin increased its vote significantly in last week's elections. Appealing to people who have been left behind by the boom, the party is attracting support from disillusioned Fianna Fáilers. Even Bertie Ahern knows as much and cracks between traditionally catch-all FF and the always sectional PDs are gaping.
"There is no doubt about it, it was a bad election for us. There is no doubt about that. The people have spoken," he has said, adding that some of the coalition Government's existing policies "are not liked". He knows such policies have cost Fianna Fáil heavily in working-class constituencies, and more of the same will cost the party yet more votes.
Aside from grossly unequal distribution (whether "unequal" equals "unfair" is a matter for your own ideology), a large part of the problem generated by coalition policies is that they make this State a wealthy slum. In terms of infrastructure such as housing, public transport and roads or social provision like healthcare, education and social welfare, Ireland lags behind the EU average.
The average wage in this State is around €27,000 a year. Working for 100 years and saving every penny, a person on such a wage wouldn't make the list of the wealthiest 15,000 people. Given even radically pared-back living costs, the average person would have to work for a few centuries to join the rich set and buying even an average house would dramatically prolong that time.
But infrastructure and social provision interest few of the wealthy. Naturally everybody would approve if roads, public transport and communal amenities were better. Yet in an economic climate that so exalts competition and pits people against each other, the prospects for improvements in communal enterprises are gravely weakened.
Portugal, where the European football championship is being played out, has smaller average wages than Ireland. But it has enough first-rate stadiums to stage a major tournament. Greece, which also has significantly lower average wages than this State, will host the Olympic Games later this summer. In terms of infrastructure, "wealthy" Ireland is not in their league.
Being kind about the lack of infrastructure, you might argue that Rome - or Roscrea, for that matter - wasn't built in a day. Physical infrastructure takes time to build and projects are moving ahead, albeit slowly. But social provision policy doesn't need a decade for change to be effected, yet healthcare and education in Ireland are disimproving for a wealthy country.
That is why Fianna Fáil, the overwhelming-majority partner in the coalition Government, is haemorrhaging votes. The Progressive Democrats may behave as extremists, generating opportunistic economic dynamism with mega-profits for the wealthy, yet suffer containable electoral punishment.
But Fianna Fáil cannot hope to remain a credible catch-all outfit if it follows suit.
In the past, the party has been able to cast itself as a Labour Party with religion. In contrast to the more bourgeois - urban and rural - Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil's boundaries have been more malleable. Historically too, it has always been greener on the "national question". Now it is a party of business but it can't be as vehemently so as the PDs.
Given the resurgence of Sinn Féin - though its future looks bright, it's still uncertain - Fianna Fáil will find it enormously difficult to recapture its lost working-class vote. Yet that is the task it faces. Even if Sinn Féin were to falter and lose many of its supporters, such voters would more likely be lost to the democratic system - they simply wouldn't bother anymore - than ever vote for FF.
Anyway, if you're one of the wealthiest four-in-every-thousand, you're more likely to approve of current Government policy.
If, on the other hand, you're working every hour to pay for an absurdly overpriced house, perhaps your disillusionment is growing. Fianna Fáil needs to stretch back towards its Shinner roots and the PDs won't like that. There may be trouble ahead.