Ireland’s two richest billionaires worth more than bottom half of earners

Ireland’s two richest Irish billionaires have more wealth than the bottom half of the population, a report by charity Oxfam has found.

The richest 1pc in the country hold more than a third (35.4pc) of Ireland’s financial wealth, the group said in a report on the world’s wealthiest people, released as a gathering of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people kicks off at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will attend the event this week.

Oxfam is calling for a wealth tax on Irish millionaires and billionaires in the country, which it estimates could generate up to €9.2bn a year.

The budget surplus last year was €7.8bn.

Ireland’s top two billionaires, as named on Forbes magazine’s 2023 rich list, are Shapoor Mistry, head of a construction, real estate, energy and media conglomerate in India, and American-born financier John Grayken. Ireland has nine billionaires in total, Forbes estimates, including Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison, media mogul Denis O’Brien and Celtic football club owner Dermot Desmond.

The Oxfam report also reveals that seven out of ten of the world’s biggest corporations have a billionaire as chief executive or principal shareholder.

It said the world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405bn to $869bn since 2020, while nearly five billion people have been made poorer.

Oxfam predicts the world could have its first-ever trillionaire in just a decade.

Yet, the charity estimates, it would take more than two centuries to end poverty.

“It’s time for states to reassert themselves, including the Irish state”, said Bríd McGrath, director of public affairs at Oxfam Ireland. “

We are calling on the Irish government to properly tax wealth and close the loopholes for tax avoidance. Oxfam estimates that a progressive tax on wealth could yield up to €9bn annually.”

“We are also calling on the Irish government to work at home and at EU level to curb excess corporate power. Ireland should wholeheartedly support moves within the EU to break up monopolies, to fight the privatisation of crucial public services, to advance worker and consumer rights and to protect the environment.”

Oxfam is calling on the Irish Government to introduce a permanent wealth tax on the rich, starting at 1.5pc for millionaires and rising to 5pc for billionaires.

It is also advising the Government to close tax loopholes and implement recommendations from the Commission on Taxation and Welfare, which it says could net the tens of billions of euros in extra tax income.

Ms McGrath said that “not one cent of taxpayers’ money” should benefit companies that abuse their dominant position, fail to pay their workers a living wage or refuse to reduce carbon emissions, whether it’s in the form of tax breaks or grant aid.

Oxfam International’s interim executive director, Amitabh Behar, said the world was “witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division”.

“This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else,” said Mr Behar.

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