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22nd Mar 2019

Ireland’s richest entertainers have been revealed, with U2 taking top spot

Paul Moore

U2

Well for those in the top 10.

At this stage, U2 must be getting vertigo, or an immense sense of pride, whenever they see themselves at the top of the list of Ireland’s richest entertainers.

Yes, you guessed it. Bono and the lads have stayed at the top of The Sunday Times’ Rich List for another year after seeing their wealth increase by €15m last year.

The rockers have a combined wealth of an estimated €662m and saw their coffers boosted by a recent 60-date tour of North America and Europe.

The list surveys the wealth of the 300 richest individuals and families on the island of Ireland in a variety of areas, including entertainment, sport, business, technology and construction.

As for the rest of the top three, Emmy-nominated actress Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett, widely considered to be one of the most influential people in American reality TV, are the second richest, while Michael Flatley is doing pretty well for himself with a 2019 wealth of €232m.

Liam Neeson, Enya and Van Morrison also feature on the list, while Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof is a new entry to this year’s entertainment top 10. He’s at eighth place, with an estimated value of €57m.

While Geldof isn’t concentrating too much on his singing career, the humanitarian has co-founded the Planet 24 television production company and owns a third of Castaway TV, best known for the global Survivor franchise.

Its sale in 2017 fuelled a strong year for Geldof’s finances.

One Direction star Niall Horan also features on the prestigious list, as do the actors Daniel Day-Lewis and Pierce Brosnan.

Here’s the top 10 in full.

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