Richest 1% in Ireland hold 4.9% of the country's income

A trade union economist has highlight the huge income gap between the country’s highest and lowest earners after an Oxfam study found the world’s richest 1% now has as much wealth as the rest of the planet put together.

Michael Taft of Unite used the EU’s Survey of Income and Living Conditions to look at the Irish public’s income — slightly different from wealth in that the latter includes assets a person may have such as property and cars while income refers to salary.

Mr Taft said that in 2007, prior to the economic crash, the top 1% of earners held 5.6% of the share of national income, well above the 5% average for the EU 15 countries.