Whether it's America's tallest building, Texas wind farms or mobile phones in
Venezuela, the Celtic tiger is finding a profitable foreign foreign home.
Once dependent on overseas funding, the island now invests as much abroad as
flows into it through multinational companies.
Ireland's sterling billionaires jump from four to six. Dermot Desmond, 56, and
Denis O'Brien, 49, join the elite after the £736m sale of London City
airport in Caribbean mobile phone success respectively. This makes Ireland
home to the world's third highest count per capita of billionaires, slightly
behind Kuwait and Switzerland.
The island's richest 250 have added £9.22 billion to their wealth, bringing
them collectively to £44.24 billion, meaning we have had to raise the
threshold for entry to the list by £8m to £32m.
Those making a debut include former Limerick aerial installer Aiden Brooks,
37, who made £72m developing London's Bond Street and other upmarket areas.
Property seller and owner of Peterborough United Darragh MacAnthony joins at
£150m. Also new are the founders of Setanta, the sports channel - Michael
O'Rourke, 41, and Leonard Ryan, 40. Ryan Nolan, 41, Dublin's online travel
entrepreneur, joins at £36m.
Northern Ireland's property boom provides the highest of this year's 24 new
entries - Ballymena developer Sam Morrison, 55, at £350m. It also propels
former plumber Andrew Creighton, 45, onto the Irish list.
Kevin, 57, and Michael Lagan, 51, saw a sixfold rise to £928m in their wealth,
mainly due to a revaluation of the Co Antrim brothers' property assests.
But it has not been an easy year for some. Hilary Weston and her family, again
at No.1, saw a £611m dip in their £4 billion fortune. Twenty-three others
fell out of th elist altogether.
Women had a very poor year again - but the younger generation is making cash
faster than ever. Boy band Westlife are set to add substancially to their
£24m and the popularity of television voting shows has propelled Thomas
O'Donohoe, 28, in as the youngest new entrant at £43m.
So tough is competition to get onto the Irish young list that the entry level
rose by £2m to £8m. Only one footballer, Newcastle United winger Damien
Duff, 28,makes it, at £12m. Sean Quinn Jr, 28, joins as he owns the
Belfry golf course.
So while a domestic slowdown has started - Irish residential property prices
are moribund - the canny rich have hedged their bets by the increasingly
global nature of their investments.
