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Rosaleen (74) sold most of her 70pc holding in Mercury Engineering to senior management at the company in 2017. The stake was held in trust for her children, Eamonn (51), Clodagh (49) and Ronan (49), after her husband and founder of the company Frank O’Kane died. Ronan remains at Mercury as a director. Profits at Mercury Engineering more than doubled to €38.7m before tax in 2018. The holding company for Mercury paid out a €7.1m dividend that year.

KN Circet chief executive Donagh Kelly (48) will have been happy to finally see government ink on the National Broadband contract. The company he founded is the major player when it comes to building the growing fibre networks for the various major telecoms brands and is likely to win contracts to build substantial segments of the new rural network over the next number of years. Kelly and his wife Anita enjoyed a substantial windfall in 2018 when KN was bought by Circet, a leading French telecommunications contractor, in a €150m deal. Kelly, who is also one of Ireland’s most successful rally drivers, was a substantial shareholder, with over 75pc of the company. He has remained with the company since the acquisition and revenues have risen to an estimated €1.3bn.