Billionaires' wealth grew during pandemic but 160 million people forced into poverty

Oxfam Ireland has called for extreme riches to be subject to a wealth tax to help fund recovery from the pandemic. File picture: Pexels

Ireland’s nine billionaires have increased their wealth by 58% to €49.7bn since the start of the pandemic, analysis by Oxfam has found.

The analysis also shows a new billionaire was created every 26 hours in that time somewhere in the world, and the world’s ten richest men doubled their wealth from €610bn to €1.3 trillion.