From RTE.ie

The combined total wealth held by Irish households surpassed €1 trillion for the first time at the start of 2008, according to an economic report published this morning from National Irish Bank.

NIB's economist Ronnie O'Toole suggests that excluding owner-occupied housing, the average household in Ireland had wealth of €352,000 but were servicing average debt of €127,000.

I would say that is the other way round, most of our "wealth" is money owed elsewhere.

We're over 1 trillion € in the red from how much our external debt is, not the rosy image this report is trying to promote.

Especially with how no-one can actually buy a house

Lots of people can buy a house, they just chose not to right now. But there are those who simply cant. There always was, and always will be those who simply wont be able. Those kind of people always will be with us. There are also those who simply prefer not to buy a house, although they are in the minority.

But the old adage that 5% of the people have 95% of the wealth is probably still true.

These types of average figures are nonsense when applied to heavily lopsided distributions.

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Did Rody give back the Audi ?

I had a good chuckle reading that article, just going by my circle of friends, they all owe this money somewhere else.

Taking a quick look at my hefty mortgage and credit card balances and my not-so-hefty bank balance leaves me lacking the sort of optimism that hearing Irish people are worth one trillion euro ought to provide!

If this is talking about 'Irish Households' then the old adage is less than correct, because the richest Irish people don't really have households in Ireland, they are tax exiles, and maybe don't count in these figueres? These figures are for the middle class.

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amhran nua- a new tune, a new politics, for a new Ireland.


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Vote Liberal Democrats

Compared to 2007 The ISEQ is down 30%+, house prices are down 10-20%, and unemployment is rising and we've never been richer?.

How did our wealth grow 3% last year.

The value of my house fell 100k+, the value of my PRSA went up a couple of thousand, the value of my shares fell a few thousand.

I must apologize for letting the country down.

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"I will remind the House, perhaps in 12 or 18 months, when prices have again increased by 25% or 30%, that they were told this by the Leader of the House" - Senator Donie Cassidy (April 10th 2008)

Shame on you ! bring back flogging I say