The (non) Richest men in Ireland

An area of interest in recent  years has been the fascination with how the (once) richest men in Ireland, have now fallen from grace and have such huge debts, it is hard for the average person to comprehend.

One case in point was the fall of the Quinn Groups founder Sean Quinn, who at one time (er... NOT so long ago!) looked like he was going to take over the country he was getting so rich. But, apart from the set-in of the usual recessionary factors, such as the collapse in property prices, and the banks being exposed, Sean quinn also had the additional financial exposure of having gambled on a failing bank (the Anglo Irish Bank), and compromising his risk portfolio on in his insurance business, which turned out to be a double whammy to him in terms of getting hit by the recession in more than normal. Recent figures published (which of course are not necessarily accurate) quoted Sean Quinn as having debts in the region of 2.5b, against assets in the region of 0.5b (500million). Imagine during the boom times being told you have assets worth €500million, but you are still in serious financial trouble!!.   It seems many people belive that Sean Quinn can still rise from his financial difficuties and regain his position as one of the countries richest men in the future, but eh, is'nt a guy now who is broke (has no money) in a much better position?..  After all, he's only ahead of Sean Quinn by about €2billion, which sure takes some catching up!!..

Just to put this in some sort of perspective: One of Americas richest men Donald Trump boasts having been a multi-millionaire, then gone broke and got back there, and is now worth about $2.7b (€1.9b), hence to put Sean Quinns debt in persective, he now has to make up the total sum of Donald Trumps current worth to be at Zero wealth, and then work from there!... Phew!!..  A tall order by anybodies standards!!..