Credit Unions, An Post and Boots Ireland top reputation rankings

RTÉ News​

29-04-2025

Credit Unions have topped the annual ranking of the Ireland Reputation Index for the third year in a row.
The largest and longest running study of reputation in Ireland, it recognises those organisations that are highly regarded as good corporate citizens.
An Post secured second place in the rankings, followed in third place by Boots Ireland.
The study showed the emotional advantage to being Irish and demonstrating a commitment to Ireland.
This year six of the top ten organisations are Irish – Credit Unions, An Post, Bord Bia, Dunnes Stores, Bon Secours Health System and St Vincent's Private Hospital - while three internationally owned organisations - Boots, Lidl, and Toyota - have imbedded themselves firmly in the Irish community over many years, gaining market share, trust and reputation and being highly regarded as good corporate citizens.
Although now internationally owned, Aer Lingus benefited from its rich heritage as Ireland's national airline as well as its prioritisation of customer experience.
Of the 16 sectors studied this year, seven sectors improved, eight remained stable while one sector declined.
An Bord Pleanála was the most improved organisation this year, moving up from 98th place to 94th place, due to its successful efforts to expedite the approvals process and the hiring of additional staff.
LinkedIn, with a 30th place ranking, having been in 35th position last year, is substantially ahead of other social media organisations such as Meta which was ranked 100th and X (formerly Twitter) which was ranked in 99th.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland moved up 85th place to 34th position, benefiting from the showcase of the Paris Olympics and their success in nurturing strong Irish athletic talent.
The annual Ireland Reputation Index 2025 study is based on the perceptions of over 5,000 members of the public.
It measures the level of trust, respect, admiration and esteem the public has for 100 of the largest, most familiar and most important organisations in Ireland, alongside 100 reputation, brand, purpose and ESG indicators.
Niamh Boyle, CEO and Founder of The Reputations Agency stressed the importance of investing in understanding, protecting and building reputation: "From our 2025 study amongst over 5,000 members of the public we found that the public in Ireland is 15 times more willing to buy from an organisation in the excellent reputation tier, than from an organisation whose reputation falls into the poor reputation tier."
These are turbulent time for most organisations due to geopolitical uncertainty, and Ms Boyle advises organisations to be externally focused and hold firm to their values.
"While many organisations quickly rolled back on commitments such as DEI, standing by long-held convictions will matter even more now, especially to an organisations' workforce."
"We learned during Storm Éowyn that reputation is resilient and protects against headwinds. Organisations in the eye of the storm such as ESB, An Post and Vodafone, improved their reputation scores through the efforts they made to protect customers and communities and to communicate with the public," she said.
"The interconnectedness of electricity, water and telecommunications taught us the importance of working together to help the most vulnerable in communities. However, communicating what steps are being taken next to ensure that our critical infrastructure becomes more resistant to these exceptional weather conditions will be just as important."
"Finally, we learned from the exemplars in our study that they have a special DNA – they contribute to society, they display great conduct in the way they run their businesses, they offer the highest quality products valued by their customers and they have strong leadership teams, well organised for success."
Welcoming their first-place ranking in 2025, David Malone, CEO of the Irish League of Credit Unions said they are proud to once again be named as Ireland's most reputable organisation in this year's Ireland Reputation Index.
"This ranking matters as it is built on the consistent work of credit unions across Ireland to provide best-in-class financial services. Importantly, it is also a testament to our focus on maintaining an accessible and active presence in communities, while also driving innovation across our digital offering and broader services."