The “cost-of-living crisis” is now part of the political narrative, along with its cousin, the “hard-pressed household”. The upward twist in prices in recent years has hit lower earners hard and left many in the middle ground juggling their finances to try to get by.

But the increase in employment and the rise in more highly paid jobs has also created a new group of better-offs, the quietly prosperous class who are at the top of the earnings ladder, even if they still complain to their padel partners about the price of everything.

The figures tell the story. The latest Revenue pre-budget statistics show that the number of taxpayers – single earners and jointly assessed couples – earning more than €100,000 is estimated to rise to 457,300 next year, more than double the 206,500 in this group in 2020. That is not a high income for a jointly assessed couple, of course, but it is a useful marker and the kind of earnings needed to get into the housing market in many areas.

But it is at the higher end that the numbers are most striking. The number of taxpayers earning more than €150,000 will rise to close to 200,000 next year, from 80,000 in 2020, while over the same period the number of €200,000-plus earners has grown from 41,000 to almost 109,000. Even allowing for the increased size of the workforce and the impact of inflation, higher-income households are now larger and more economically powerful. Just look at the growth of the “wealth management” industry, the high-end beauty and health business and the boom in extensive home renovations.

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