During the boom times Ireland one had the highest number of helicopters per capita of any country in the world. This is highly unlikely to happen now as the number of people in Ireland earning over €1 million has been halved in the past two years.

According to the Irish Independent in 2008 their were 1,447 people earning over €1 million. Now there are only 796. The Revenue commissioners of Ireland have also said that of these 796 only 188 will earn over €2 million.

Although property tycoons and business such as Sean Quinn, JP McManus and Dermot Desmond have constantly featured on these lists during the Celtic Tiger now their ranking are slipping down.

Mr Quinn’s fortune has dropped from €3.3 billion to €1.68 billion.

An analysis of Ireland’s overall high earners since 2007 show a dramatic decrease. The number of people earning between €500,000 and €1 million have fallen from 3,946 to 2,522. Those earning between €200,000 and €500,000 fell from 23,962 to 18,321. Numbers in every single income bracket have fallen since 2007.

Ireland’s Central Statistics Office shows that the number of employed fell by 280,000 since 2007. However the number of income earners fell by 148,000. This can be explained by households were a  job has been lost.