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Irish Independent

Tech firms Meta and X at bottom of latest ‘reputation index', as RTÉ also scores poorly

Facebook owner Meta ranked 100 out of 100 firms in the listing and X came in at 99, just ahead of RTÉ which is still tarnished in the public mind by last year's financial and governance scandals. The Ireland Reputation Index 2025, prepared and published by PR firm The Reputations Agency, is the largest and longest-running study of reputation in Ireland and is based on the perceptions of over 5,000 members of the public. The study 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. This year's study took place between the January 3 and March 17. Ireland's member-owned credit unions topped the ranking for the third consecutive year and along with An Post is one of just two entities to get an 'excellent' score of 82.4 on the index. Credit unions are seen as positive in terms of citizenship, conduct and workplace and ranked first when the public was asked whether they would give them the benefit of the doubt in a crisis. For the first time in 16 years, the pillar banks of AIB and Bank of Ireland both moved to an 'average' score on the index, an indication the scars of the last financial crisis are starting to fade. Mediahuis Ireland, which publishes this newspaper, also received an average score. An Bord Pleanála was the most improved organisation this year, although it still came in with a 'weak' score overall. CEO and founder of The Reputations Agency, Niamh Boyle, said the results show importance of investing in understanding, protecting and building reputation: '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,' she said. '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.' One striking trend in the overall results is the advantage to businesses of being perceived as Irish. Six of the top 10 ranked organisations this year are Irish, including the credit unions, An Post, Bord Bia, Dunnes Stores, Bon Secours Health System and St Vincent's Private Hospital The other four are Boots, Lidl, and Toyota, which are very well established here, and Aer Lingus which benefits from its heritage as Ireland's national airline even though it is owned by Anglo-Spanish aviation giant IAG. Aer Lingus's top-10 ranking came despite significant disruption to its services last summer during its pilot strike.