A State-Sponsored Body is the name given in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

(a government-owned corporation), that is to say, a commercial business which is beneficially owned, either completely or majority, by the

Irish Government The Government of Ireland () is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the , which consists of ...

. 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 corporation, government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government ...

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 * Raidió Teilifís Éireann (Radio and Television of Ireland) * Voluntary Health Insurance Board ( Vhi Healthcare) *

Horse Racing Ireland Horse Racing Ireland (HRI; ) is the governing body of horse racing on the island of Ireland. It is based in the Curragh, County Kildare, next to the racecourse of that name. HRI was founded in 2001, succeeding the Irish Horseracing Authority, ...

* Teilifís na Gaeilge * Bord Bia (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 ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' 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 A company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of company where the liability of members in the event the company is wound up is limited to a (typically very small) amount listed in the company's articles or constitution. Most have no share cap ...

, 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 In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...

private limited companies A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include: the '' LLC'' in the United S ...

. These are incorporated with the

Companies Registration Office (Ireland) The Companies Registration Office (CRO; ) registers and incorporates companies in Republic of Ireland, Ireland and files their annual returns. The CRO has a number of core functions: *The incorporation of companies. *The receipt and registration ...

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 when a number of Irish financial institutions faced almost imminent collapse due to insolvency during the Great Recession. In response, the Irish government instigated a €64 billion bank bailout. This the ...

, 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 (Commercial Irish Forestry Business) *

* Irish National Stud Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources *

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

(The Post Office) * Ervia * Bord na Móna plc (The Peat Board) * EirGrid plc * Electricity Supply Board * Raidió Teilifís Éireann * TG4 Department of Finance *

Allied Irish Banks Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four (banking)#Ireland, Big Four commercial banks in the Republic of Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of ge ...

plc - 71% shareholding *

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc () 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 Irish banking history. At ...

plc - 14% shareholding * Permanent TSB - 75% shareholding Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport * Dublin Airport Authority 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 Rail transport in Ireland, railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal I ...

- Irish Rail * Bus Éireann - Irish Bus * Bus Átha Cliath - Dublin Bus Subsidiaries of Dublin Airport Authority: * Aer Rianta International cpt Subsidiaries of An Post * Prize Bond Company * Data Ireland Subsidiaries of Raidió Teilifís Éireann: * 2RN * RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Subsidiary of Horse Racing Ireland * Tote Ireland Limited

Privatisations

Like many countries with extensive state owned sectors, the

has embarked on a programme of privatisations in recent years. Privatisations have always been controversial in Ireland. In 1991 the

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

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 company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to Ireland's former state-owned monopol ...

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; ) 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 gateway exchange for companies seek ...

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 Ispat International (later

Mittal Steel Company Mittal Steel Company N.V., incorporated in the Netherlands and headquartered in the United Kingdom, was a steel producer. In 2006, it produced 110.5 million tonnes of steel and had annual production capacity of 138 million tons of steel. In August ...

). Shut down. * 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 industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

to become Irish Fertiliser Industries Limited (closed in 2002). * Bord Telecom Éireann plc - listed on the ISE as

plc (now Eircom Group plc). *

ACCBank ACC Loan Management Limited, formerly ACCBank plc, was originally a commercial bank in Ireland that focused on agriculture and SME lending, and later became a company that focussed on managing the lending facilities of its existing clients. The ba ...

plc - sold via trade sale to

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

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 opera ...

- owned by Eircom and RTÉ, sold via trade sale to NTL (and later sold on to Liberty Global Europe). *

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

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, England. It is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the United Kingdom, and one of the largest suppliers ...

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