One in five Irish households are millionaires on the back of rocketing property prices, The Business Post reports.
An analysis by wealth managers, Fordel, calculates that Irish household wealth was €1.3 trillion, or €663,630 on average, last year. That was almost double the €716 billion recorded at the peak of the property bubble in 2007.
Fordel’s report, written by Caoimhe Lane, investment analyst and Oliver Mooney, chief investment officer, says Irish household wealth now ranks second to Luxembourg in Europe.
They say households benefit from technology, pharmaceutical, financial services and aircraft leasing firms locating here.
Legal merger a big shake-up
Solicitors’ William Fry’s merger with rivals Eversheds Sutherland will be one of the biggest shake-ups in the Irish legal market for years, according to The Sunday Business Post.
In an interview, William Fry’s managing partner, Stephen Keogh, says that should it go ahead, it will boost the number of lawyers in his firm to more than 320 from 216 currently.
The deal would also move William Fry to fourth place from sixth in the league table of Irish solicitors’ firms.
He argues that growth in the Irish legal market is more difficult now than 20 years ago, and the proposed merger could provide a “huge injection” in both headcount and revenue.
US students seek places
The number of US students looking to study at Irish universities is soaring as third-level institutions face increased pressure from president Donald Trump’s administration, The Sunday Independent says.
“Since Trump came to power in January, interest from US students in on-campus Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in Ireland – at locations including Trinity College Dublin – rose by 63pc in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year,” says the newspaper.
The figures, from global student search platform, Studyportals, indicate that the Republic is now Europe’s sixth biggest market for US students.
Intel sees Irish operations as ‘critical’
Kevin O’Buckley, who leads Intel’s foundry business, has said the chipmaker’s Irish operations are critical to its future, the Business Post reports.
His comments come amid concerns for jobs at the Leixlip operation, with a restructuring under way aimed at turning around the troubled business.
Last month the company said it would be reducing its global workforce by 20 per cent. But O’Buckley suggested Irish operations were a key part of the company’s plan.
“As customer demand drives us to expand our capacity in [new chip making processes] or further, places like Ireland could be ideal,” O’Buckley said at the company’s Direct Connect event, in San Jose, California.
“By far, the most advanced silicon in the EU today, in Europe, is coming from Intel’s fabs in Ireland.
“Ireland is an incredibly important facility for us,” he added.
Norway to US AI in buying shares
Norway’s $1.8 trillion oil fund, one of the world’s biggest buyers of shares, expects to AI to save it $400 million a year in trading costs, The Financial Times reports.
Nicolai Tangen, the sovereign wealth fund’s chief executive, tells the newspaper that its trading bill is $2 billion annually, and it hopes that new technology will knock $400 million off that total.
The fund, the proceeds of the Scandinavian country’s oil and gas reserves, owns 1.5 per cent of every listed company globally on average and executes 46 million individual trades a-year.
Its AI programmes predict the fund’s buying and selling patterns.
