Car firms overtake food and technology in Irish trust survey

Car firms have overtaken food and technology firms as the most trusted and reputable organisations in Ireland, a new survey has shown.

BMW was today named as the most reputable organisation in Ireland , the annual RepTrak study has shown. It has jumped from 13th place last year pushing search engine Google off the tops spot into 3rd place behind iPhone maker Apple at 2nd.

The survey of almost 5,000 members of the public carried out by Corporate Reputations ranks how much companies are admired and trusted, how highly they are held in esteem and how good people feel about them.

Automative companies dominate the top five most trusted firms with Volkswagen and Toyota at four and five.

Unlike last year, no food company appears in the top five. However there are four food-related companies in the top ten, food ingredient group Kerry at 7th (down from 2nd ) and chocolate maker Cadbury at 9th (from 4th), supermarket chain Superquinn 10th (from 24th) and British retailer Marks and Spencer at 8th (from 2nd).

While some technology firms are slightly down since last year they still remain among the most trusted and reputable in the eyes of the Irish public. In the top twenty are Google, Apple, computer chip maker Intel (6th), auction website eBay (13th), and mobile phone manufacuter Nokia (17th).

Once again Kerry is the most trusted Irish company, followed by Superquinn , semi-state An Post, Jameson Whiskey makers Irish Distillers, Dairygold and Eason. An Post is in 15th place overall (up from 26th) and replaces Bórd na Móna as the most trusted Irish semi-State firm.

Among indigenous firms, The Irish Times was the seventh most trusted in 20th place overall (up from 24th). It was also the second most trusted information and media company (behind Google).The newspaper was ahead of RTÉ at 53, Sky TV at 56, TV3 at 59, and Independent News and Media at 93rd place.

Also in the top ten most trustworthy Irish organisations is Aer Lingus which is 22nd overall . However its competitor Ryanair ranks far behind in 99th place.

Perhaps not surprisingly once again this year banks are near the bottom of the 100 list, with AIB at 100th, Bank of Ireland remaining at 98th place, Permanent TSB at 96th . After a year in which Ulster Bank customers were beset by major technical glitches the bank has dropped six places to 95th.

The only bank among the top ten most trusted financial firms was KBC (i n 82nd place overall). Insurance firms were the most trusted in the financial sector with Zurich Life Assurance leading the way (despite ranking at 51 overall). Followed by Axa (60th place) and ahead of last year's most trusted financial firm FBD at 61st place. Last year Quinn Group held the 100th spot, but this years its former insurance arm, now owned by Liberty, was in 75th place.

Reputation and trust was "hugely important" now as trust levels had fallen considerably in major institutions such as the church, government, and media in recent years, Niamh Boyle managing director of Corporate Reputations said.

“If an organisation has a good reputation they tend to get much more support than those companies who don’t and that tends to deliver on business objective for them,” she said.

Presenting the awards this morning Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said Ireland's reputation had "improved drastically" in the past two years, part of which was "attributable to the calibre of work being done" by companies in Ireland "We are getting the message out that Ireland is a place where great businesses do great business," he said.

BMW said the result endorsed its "long term investment in the Irish market" . Its success was based on "impressive financial performance, innovative products, sound sustainability and environmental credentials," sales and marketing director of BMW Ireland Michael Nugent said.

Top 20 most reputable companies in Ireland:

1 BMW

2 Apple

3 Google

4 Volkswagen

5 Toyota

6 Intel

7 Kerry Group

8 Marks and Spencer Group

9 Cadbury (Kraft Foods Ireland)

10 Superquinn

11 Kelloggs

12 Boots

13 Ebay

14 Johnson & Johnson

15 An Post

16 Irish Distillers

17 Nokia

18 Dairygold

19 Eason & Son

20 The Irish Times