It's official! Or at least it is according to the European business magazine Eurobusiness - Tony O'Reilly is Ireland's richest man with a personal fortune of €735 million (£580 million), while the combined wealth of Dr O'Reilly and his wife, Greek shipping heiress Chryss Goulandris, exceeds €1.2 billion - almost £1 billion.
But despite their wealth, the O'Reilly-Gouldandris fortune pales into relative insignificance compared to the richest of the rich.
Europe's richest person is Liliane Bettencourt, who controls the L'Oreal cosmetics empire with a €14.3 billion fortune.
Number two is the German owner of the Aldi supermarket chain, Theo Albrecht, with €11.2 billion and third is fellow-German, Dietmar Hopp, a founder of SAP software group, with a personal fortune of €11.1 billion. Dr O'Reilly's €735 million makes him only 220th richest in Europe.
Dr O'Reilly, Ms Goulandris and her two brothers Peter and John, are not the only ones to feature in the 400 richest in Europe rankings. Dr O'Reilly's son, Gavin, is included, but excluded are the other two-thirds of the O'Reilly triplets, Tony jnr and Cameron.
Gavin O'Reilly is included - and the other two brothers are excluded - because Eurobusiness believes he is "the one who is expected to inherit the empire". Gavin, according to the publication, "controls" Tony O'Reilly's stake in Independent News & Media - although many believe that might be news to his father.
Ryanair founder Tony Ryan - Irish but tax resident in Monaco - is in 287th place with a personal fortune of €565 million while Dermot Desmond is in 294th place with €555 million. Dermot Desmond is destined for further wealth, comments Euro business, which tips him as Ireland's next entrant to the Forbes billionaire list.
Dermot Desmond's regular golf and business partner, Zurich-based currency speculator, J.P. McManus comes in at 315th with €525 million Michael Smurfit is in 328th place with a €510 million fortune.
"His love of golf dominates his life and he is a member of eight exclusive clubs in four countries," drools Eurobusiness about Michael Smurfit, who is "mistakenly regarded as Irish by most people."
In at 303 comes Michael Flatley with €545 million - culled from the box office receipts and merchandising from his Lord of the Dance show which generated €1 million a week for the New York-born dancer.
And Michael Flatley's only vice? Well, according to Eurobusiness, the yacht, private jet, Ferraris and Bentleys don't rate as vices - his only vice is a liking for Chateau Latour at €2,250 a bottle.
