If you can keep your shirt when all around you are losing theirs then you'll remain a billionaire. Monaghan-born farmer Eamon Cleary is still worth more than NZ$2bn (€950m) according to the new rich list published by New Zealand's National Business Review, making him the second wealthiest individual in the country.

Cleary's fortune is down by about $100m, a comparatively modest loss given about $5.7bn was lost from the combined wealth of the 155 entrants on the rich list. He actually moved up to second from third place on the list.

Cleary began buying up farms in New Zealand in 1991, eventually emigrating there and becoming a citizen. He is now based in Malta and has interests in biofuels and telecommunications companies. He owns an extensive property portfolio throughout New Zealand, but most of it is around the tourist hot spot of Queenstown in the south island. He also owns property in Ireland, Germany, Hungary and farms in Australia.

In 2001, he bought a New Zealand farm of more than 55,000 acres, which is nearly 32 times the size of the Phoenix Park.

Originally from Ballybay, Cleary left school at age 11 to work on his father's small farm and eventually set up an agricultural supply businesses, which he sold in 1991.