Ireland's nine billionaires have increased their wealth by €18.3 billion or 58% to €49.7 billion since the start of the pandemic, according to a new Oxfam report.
While globally, the report claims that the world's ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from €610 billion to €1.3 trillion during the first two years of the pandemic.
Oxfam claims that over the same period, incomes of 99% of humanity have stagnated and fallen and over 160 million more people were forced into poverty.
The organisation has called for extreme wealth in Ireland and across the globe to be subject to a wealth tax.
This money, it suggests, could be used to help fund the recovery from the pandemic.
A 1.5% wealth tax on Irish millionaires with wealth above €4m could raise €4 billion in tax revenue, Oxfam estimates.
While a 1.5% tax on Irish billionaires could raise more than €0.7 billion, the charity predicts in the report, entitled Inequality Kills.
"Central banks pumped trillions of euros into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom," said Oxfam Ireland's CEO Jim Clarken.
"Now is the time to redress that imbalance through progressive wealth taxes, along with other progressive measures such as debt relief and cancellation.
"Within the EU, the Irish Government could lead by example by introducing a wealth tax of 1.5% on the very wealthiest which would have a positive effect on Ireland’s society as it recovers from the pandemic."
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The analysis records what it claims has been the biggest surge in billionaire wealth since records began.
This is because billionaires have seen their wealth increase by €4.35 trillion since the start of the pandemic two years ago, with a new billionaire created every 26 hours.
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But inequality is also contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day, or one person every four seconds, the report published ahead of the World Economic Forum's virtual Davos Agenda calculates.
This is based on deaths across the world from factors such as the lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger and climate breakdown.
"The funds generated by a wealth tax could have a transformative effect on funding Ireland’s recovery from the pandemic and could be targeted at those areas most in need – homeless people and people trapped in the increasing poverty trap of private rental accommodation, especially lone parents," said Mr Clarken.
"It could be used to modernise our struggling health system and fund a just transition to a zero-carbon society."
"It would also enable Ireland to meet our long-standing commitment to spend 0.7% of our gross national income on overseas development assistance."
The Oxfam report also highlights that inequality between countries is expected to rise for the first time in a generation.
