O'Leary was ranked 23 out of 30 on a list that was topped by the head of BP, John Browne. Others to appear in the top 10 include Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers and Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric. But some names on the list would certainly bring mixed feelings to Irish workers.

Among those names is Anne Mulcahy, the chief executive of Xerox. In 2001, Mulcahy took the decision to shut a facility in Dundalk with the loss of over 400 jobs, as the company's revenue slumped.

Xerox was forced to pay back millions of euro in grants to the IDA.

Also likely to raise eyebrows is a new addition to the Barron's list. Lakshmi Mittal, the head of Mittal Steel no doubt still hits a nerve with people in Cork, not to mention the government.

Mittal bought the former state-owned Irish Steel plant in Cork for £1 in 1996, assuming massive debts. A promised tranche of investment wasn't forthcoming and the plant closed in 2001 with the loss of 450 jobs. The closure caused a furore. Mittal later lodged a 30m claim against the assets of what had been renamed Irish Ispat after it went into liquidation.

He said that reflected his investment in the facility between 1996 and 2001. He later dropped the claim.

The chief executive of retail giant Tesco, Terry Leahy, is on the list at number 14, and is also a new entry. Irish retailers may rue the day the goliath took over Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices in 1997, as Tesco has now grown to be the dominant supermarket force in the country, expanding its interests into petrol stations and financial products.

While the list could raise some hackles, investors in the companies have benefited from the 'cruel to be kind' strategy, that helped many firms survive the global economic downturn that took hold in 2001.

And the list shows that aging investor Warren Buffett, the boss of Berkshire Hathaway still draws respect, despite some hiccups last year. He was ranked number two.