Changing fortunes: a tale of two pandemics

OWNERS and business leaders in software and construction have prospered over the past year, while the pandemic hit some of the country’s biggest hoteliers hard, according to the Rich List for 2021.

Tonight, part two of Ireland’s Rich List 2021 will be broadcast on RTÉ, based on the Sunday Times rich list.

It will detail the people whose wealth has soared over the past year, as well as those who’ve fallen, in Connacht and Ulster.

In the programme, David Henderson of Tobermore detailed how his net worth skyrocketed 85% to €148million in the last year on a company built on literal bricks.

Mr Henderson told the programme that the company now produces between 2.5million and

3million bricks a week. ‘We would have 60 or 70 truckloads of raw materials coming in and probably 70 truckloads of product going out every single day,’ he said.

Between the two provinces, Ulster saw the highest rises in net value. Brendan Mooney, IT company Kainos chief, saw his net worth soar by 154% over the past year to €178million.

Daniel Strain of Eagle Overseas, which was a haulage company but expanded into software in the past few years, increased his net worth by 139% to €201million.

The wealth of the Murtagh family, who run the Kingspan empire, jumped by 54% to €2.2billion.

In Connacht, construction company Tara Developments, which was run by the late Noel Sweeney and wife Carmel, saw their value rise 33% to €188million, the steepest jump in the western province.

Patrick Flannery and his family, who run a successful plant hire company, saw their value increase by 28% to €188million.

In the last year, the Hughes family, owners of Portwest workwear company, had a 17% increase in net worth to €420million.

The reason for the massive surge was due to the sales of personal protective equipment in the last year which once accounted for just 6% of the company’s business but ballooned to around 40%.

The family behind the Smyths Toys Empire saw their net worth rise 5% to €220million after their early move into online sales paid dividends up 5% from last year.

Meanwhile, in the hospitality sector, Galway hoteliers, the Flannery family, lost 27% of their value, dropping to €85million while Eileen Monahan, and family, owners of the Doyle Hotel Collection including the Westbury in Dublin, lost 34% of their net worth down to €136million.

Moya Doherty and John McGolgan of Riverdance fame also lost 15% of their net worth after the pandemic stalled productions.

Sales of protective equipment soared