Hard-pressed inhabitants of dear old "Dirty Dublin" will have a hard time believing it, but the Irish capital has just been ranked the fourth richest city in the world.
Despite the post Celtic Tiger slump, Dublin ties with Copenhagen as the fourth wealthiest city in the world according to the UN's "Habitat Index."
The ranking is not all to do with money, however.
The index looks to productivity, quality of life, infrastructure, environment and equity in deciding the rankings. And though times might be hard, the city is beyond argument in a far better state in these categories than the rare auld times when it was earning its "dirty" sobriquet.
Nevertheless, that last category, "equity," could prove an Achilles Heel for the city in the future.
"Current measures to address the economic crisis and the public finances could affect the equity index," the index compilers warned.
Still, and for the time being at least, Dubliners apparently should be thankful for their lot because it's a bigger and better one than many feel they are daily coping with.
Meanwhile, Vienna came tops in index, followed by Helsinki and then Oslo.
