Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IT TAKES AN Irish billionaire less than a full working day to make the average person’s yearly salary.
That’s one of the stark claims in Oxfam’s wealth inequality report, which the NGO says shows that the gap between rich and poor has grown rapidly in the last year.
To be precise it would take 439 minutes, or 7.3 hours, for the average Irish billionaire to make the average person’s annual income.
Globally, the 12 richest billionaires own more wealth than the poorest half of humanity – over four billion people.
The collective wealth of billionaires last year grew by €2.15 trillion, the charity says. Billionaire wealth increased three times faster last year than the average annual rate over the last five years.
There are currently 11 people in the Irish billionaires’ club, according to Oxfam, ranging from familiar names like the Collison brothers of payments firm Stripe to less well-known names like Firoz and Zahan Mistry.
Oxfam has released its latest research on wealth inequality to coincide with the start of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, where the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people convene for talks on the state of the world economy.
In terms of political leaders Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Taoiseach Micheál Martin will be amongst those attending the gathering in the Swiss Alps resort.
Oxfam has warned that the concentration of extreme wealth within the ranks of the super rich is eroding democracy.
For example, globally nine out of the top ten social media companies in the world are owned by just six billionaires. Billionaires also dominate in the technology space, running eight out of the top ten artificial intelligence companies.
Billionaires are also 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people.
Oxfam Ireland’s CEO Jim Clarken says economic inequality is “fuelling political capture”.
“Too many governments are siding with the powerful, not the public,” he said.
Currently in Ireland, some 300,000 people (or 4.8% of the population) are experiencing food insecurity, the charity said.
The NGO is calling on the government to “fairly” tax the super-rich. However the report doesn’t specify exactly what such a tax code would look like.
Separately, it says the dominating tech companies, such as X and Meta, need to be better regulated. This includes fighting misinformation and disinformation, which Oxfam says is feeding extremism.
“Since President Trump’s second inauguration last year, this trend has accelerated: fear is rising as life becomes less affordable, and billionaire-backed politics exploits that fear to silence and impoverish communities,” Clarken said.
“Conflict is increasing as is the threat of further conflict as even now Europe itself is dealing with the threat of invasion or takeover.”
A record 400 political leaders, over 800 CEOs and chairs, and nearly 100 tech entrepreneurs will meet at Davos this year, where this year’s theme is ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’. Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are among the companies represented.
Aside from Trump and Zelenskyy, the politicians include Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and He Lifeng, the vice-premier of China.
The Taoiseach will be joined by Enterprise Minister Peter Burke and European Commissioner Michael McGrath.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say