New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that households' disposable income increased by almost 23% in the period from 2002 to 2005, with a particularly sharp rise of 11% in 2005.
The 2005 increase was partly due to a once-off increase in farm incomes caused by the introduction of a new subsidy payment scheme.
The figures are contained in new CSO statistics which look at the contribution of each sector of the economy to national income.
They also show that financial corporations - including banks and insurance companies - held almost 80% of the economy's financial assets by the end of 2005. Other companies held 9.4%, while households and non-profit institutions accounted for almost 10%. Government held just 1.5%.
