GOOGLE HAS BEEN named Ireland’s most reputable company for the third year in a row, while John Player and Sons has come bottom of the list of 101 firms.

According to Corporate Reputations and the Reputation Institute , which carried out the study, Google was the only firm to score more than 80 points out of a possible one hundred. Kerry Group takes second spot followed by Apple.

Cadbury and Volkswagen round out the top five.

Eason and Son are the only other indigenous company to make it into the top ten, with Dairygold and Arnotts in the top 20 at numbers 12 and 18 respectively.

Filling out the bottom end of the list is John Player and Son, who come bottom at number 101. Quinn is in second-last place with AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ryanair making up the rest of the bottom five.

The highest entry for bank industry rankings number 74 – KBC bank. That’s followed by Ulster Bank at 89 and EBS at number 92.

Bord Na Móna is Ireland’s most reputable semi-state organisation, at number 22, while An Post dropped from number 9 in 2011 to number 26 this time around.

Responding to today’s results the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that the government has been “working hard to restore Ireland’s reputation since coming into office”.

Three quarters of the firms examined have seen their reputation fall over the past year. Niamh Boyle of Corporate Reputations said that overall consumer trust in firms in Ireland has fallen, and that this is a logical consequence of a country in recession.

The list was collated by examining how an organisation rates across performance, innovation, leadership, products and services, governance, workplace and citizenship. More than 3,700 members of the general public were also asked how they felt about the firms.