IRELAND’S RICHEST 250 people have a wealth that is equivalent to a third of the country’s GDP.
That’s according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List which counts 12 Irish billionaires.
Top of the list for the eighth successive year is Dublin-born Hilary Weston and family which has global retail and hospitality assets valued at €14.1 billion. Their wider chain of companies include Primark, Loblaws, Brown Thomas and Selfridges.
Telecommunications billionaire Denis O’Brien remains as the second richest Irish person with a wealth valued by The Sunday Times at €4.74 billion.
The richest under-30s on the list are Stripe founders Patrick and John Collison whose €1.47 billion fortune make them, at 27 and 25, the youngest and fastest billionaires in Irish history.
Golfer Rory McIlroy has entered Ireland’s top 250 for the first time with a fortune of €72 million.
That fortune puts McIlroy second behind the Collisons on Ireland’s under-30 list.
In entertainment, U2 is the highest musical act on the Irish list having again being the world’s highest-grossing live rock act last year. Their worth is put at €641 million.
Ireland’s best-selling solo artist Enya has a wealth of €117 million.
In the combined UK and Ireland list, Russian industrial tycoons David and Simon Reuben come out on top for the first time with a wealth of £13 billion (€16.8 billion).
Three days after her 90th birthday, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II comes in at 319th place on the rich list with a wealth of £340 million (€436.28 million).
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