A State-Sponsored Body is the name given in Ireland to a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...

(a government-owned corporation), that is to say, a commercial business which is beneficially owned, either completely or majority, by the Irish Government. Each state-sponsored body has a sponsor Minister who acts as shareholder, either independently, or in conjunction with the Minister for Finance, who may also be a shareholder. State-sponsored bodies are often popularly called ''semi-state companies'', a misnomer, since they are all (mostly) fully owned by the state, in addition not all of them are actually companies.

Statutory corporations

State-sponsored bodies may be organised as

statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

s, meaning that they are officially non-profit and do not formally have shareholders, but have a board or other authority appointed by the sponsor Minister. Corporations of this type include: * Córas Iompair Éireann (Irish Transport Company) *

Electricity Supply Board The Electricity Supply Board (ESB; ga, Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais) is a state owned (95%; the rest are owned by employees) electricity company operating in the Republic of Ireland. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as ...

Raidió Teilifís Éireann Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...

(Radio and Television of Ireland) * Voluntary Health Insurance Board ( Vhi Healthcare) * Horse Racing Ireland *

Teilifís na Gaeilge TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known a ...

Bord Bia Bord Bia (English: Food Board) is an Irish state agency with the aim of promoting sales of Irish food and horticulture both in Ireland and abroad. Bord Bia works for small producers by promoting and certifying farmers' markets, and for bigger ...

(Food Board) * IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Authority) Statutory corporations are governed under the particular statute that they are established under, and are not subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, though similar requirements are often stated in the statute. The statutory corporation form of governance has fallen out of favour recently, with it being seen as less transparent and less commercially free than the limited company (see below). It is planned that VHI will become a limited company in the near future. On 21 January 2006 '' The Irish Times'' reported that the ESB and BGE will also move to plc status, however, both companies remained in government hands and never went to plc status. Under the draf
Broadcasting Bill 2006
RTÉ and Telefís na Gaeilge would have become companies limited by guarantee, however the final Broadcasting Act 2009 retained their statutory corporation status.

Companies with the Government as shareholder

Others may be organised as public limited companies or private limited companies. These are incorporated with the Companies Registration Office (Ireland) as companies, but their sole (or sometimes majority) shareholder is their sponsor minister. Some of these are exempt from the requirement to carry ''limited'', ''teoranta'', ''plc'', or ''cpt'' as part of their company name. State-sponsored bodies incorporated in this fashion are, unlike their statutory corporation peers, subject to the provisions of the Companies' Acts. They have issued share capital, a board of directors, and all the other features of the type of company they are incorporated as. In the case of bank shareholdings, these are the results of recapitalisation during the

Irish banking crisis The post-2008 Irish banking crisis was the situation whereby, due to the Great Recession, a number of Irish financial institutions faced almost imminent collapse due to insolvency. In response, the Irish government instigated a €64 billion b ...

, and are all intended to be sold in time Examples include: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine * Bord na gCon (Irish Greyhound Board) *

Coillte Coillte (; meaning "forests"/"woods") is a state-owned commercial forestry business in Ireland based in Newtownmountkennedy. Coillte manage approximately 7% of the country’s land, and operates three businesses - their core forestry business, a ...

(Commercial Irish Forestry Business) * Horse Racing Ireland * Irish National Stud Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources *

An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...

(The Post Office) * Ervia *

Bord na Móna Bord na Móna (; English: "The Peat Board"), is a semi-state company in Ireland, created in 1946 by the Turf Development Act 1946. The company began developing the peatlands of Ireland with the aim to provide economic benefit for Irish Midland c ...

plc (The Peat Board) *

EirGrid EirGrid plc is the state-owned electric power transmission operator in Ireland. It is a public limited company registered under the Companies Acts; its shares are held by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. It is one of ...

plc *

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known a ...

Department of Finance * Allied Irish Banks plc - 71% shareholding *

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...

plc - 14% shareholding * Permanent TSB - 75% shareholding Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport *

Dublin Airport Authority DAA (styled "daa"), previously Dublin Airport Authority, is a commercial semi-state airport company in Ireland. The company owns and operates Dublin Airport and Cork Airport. Its other subsidiaries include the travel retail business Aer Rianta ...

plc * Shannon Airport Authority * Cork Airport Authority * Dublin Port Company * Port of Cork * Drogheda Port Company * Galway Harbour Company * New Ross Port Company * Shannon Foynes Port Company * Port of Waterford Company * Wicklow Port Company * Córas Iompair Éireann

Prominent subsidiaries of state-sponsored bodies

Companies which are subsidiaries of state-sponsored bodies, but which enjoy a separate identity and legal existence, include: Subsidiaries of Córas Iompair Éireann: *

Iarnród Éireann Iarnród Éireann () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal InterCity, Commuter, DART and fr ...

- Irish Rail *

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

- Irish Bus *

Bus Átha Cliath Dublin Bus ( ga, Bus Átha Cliath) is a State-owned bus operator providing services in Dublin. By far the largest bus operator in the city, it carried 138 million passengers in 2019. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann. ...

- Dublin Bus Subsidiaries of Dublin Airport Authority: * Aer Rianta International cpt Subsidiaries of An Post *

Prize Bond Company A Prize Bond is a lottery bond, a non-interest bearing security issued on behalf of the Irish Minister for Finance by the ''Prize Bond Company DAC''. Funds raised are used to offset government borrowing and are refundable to the bond owner on de ...

* Data Ireland Subsidiaries of Raidió Teilifís Éireann: * 2RN *

RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Raidió Teilifís Éireann Commercial Enterprises (RTÉ CEL) is the commercial arm of Ireland's public service broadcaster RTÉ or Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ CEL is run independently from RTÉ as a whole owned subsidiary of the company, in ...

Subsidiary of Horse Racing Ireland * Tote Ireland Limited

Privatisations

Like many countries with extensive state owned sectors, the Irish Government has embarked on a programme of privatisations in recent years. Privatisations have always been controversial in Ireland. In 1991 the chief executive of Greencore was forced to resign immediately prior to the company's flotation when it was discovered he was a shareholder in a company which had been purchased by Irish Sugar prior to its flotation. However it was after the drop in the

Eircom Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...

share price following the company's flotation that many became opposed to future privatisations.

List of privatised state-sponsored bodies

* Dairy Disposal Company - Dairies returned to private ownership * Irish Sugar plc - listed on the

Irish Stock Exchange Euronext Dublin (formerly The Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ga, Stocmhalartán na hÉireann) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793. The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European ga ...

as Greencore Group plc. * Irish Life Assurance plc - listed on the ISE, later merged with Irish Permanent to form Irish Life and Permanent plc. After ILP was nationalised, Irish Life was separated by the Minister of Finance and sold to Canada Life. * Irish Steel - sold via trade sale to Irish Ispat International. Since closed. * British and Irish Steam Packet Company - sold via trade sale to Irish Continental Group plc. * Nitrigin Éireann Teoranta- merged with Irish part of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

to become

Irish Fertiliser Industries Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe *** Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent u ...

Limited (closed in 2002). * Bord Telecom Éireann plc - listed on the ISE as

plc (now Eircom Group plc). * ACCBank plc - sold via trade sale to Rabobank Ireland. * ICC Bank plc - sold via trade sale to Bank of Scotland (Ireland). *

Cablelink Cablelink (formerly known as Conception Pay TV Network) is a subscription-based cable antenna television system operator and broadband Internet service provider in the Philippines which commenced its CATV operation in 1995. It is owned and operate ...

- owned by Eircom and RTÉ, sold via trade sale to NTL (and later sold on to

Liberty Global Europe Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

). * Aer Lingus Group plc. (Irish International Airlines) - listed on the ISE. A minority government shareholding was retained, but ultimately sold in July 2015. * Great Southern Hotels - privatised via trade sale. Some hotels are now Radisson Blu, others have been rebranded or closed. * Bord Gais Energy - customer supply division of old Bord Gáis sold in trade sale to

Centrica Centrica plc is a British multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire. Its principal activity is the supply of electricity and gas to consumers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is the largest su ...

. Infrastructure division retained as state asset. * Permanent TSB - partially re-floated after nationalisation to prevent bank failure. *

Allied Irish Bank Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four commercial banks in Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance products such as home, trav ...

- partially re-floated after nationalisation to prevent bank failure. * An Post National Lottery Company - licence sold for 20 years to a private operator, Premier Lotteries Ireland, in 2013.

References