State-sponsored bodies of the Republic of Ireland
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A State-Sponsored Body is the name given in the Republic of Ireland to a state owned enterprise (or government owned corporation), that is to say, a commercial company which is benficially 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 Irish Minister for Finance, who may also be a shareholder. State-sponsored bodies are often popularly called semi-state companies, a misnomner, since they are all (mostly) fully owned by the state, in addition not all of them are actually companies. Less often they are referred to by the British term nationalised industry.
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[edit] Statutory Corporations
State-sponsored bodies may be organised as statutory corporations, meaning that they are officially non-profit and do not formally have shareholders, but are a board appointed by the sponsor Minister. Corporations of this type include:
- Córas Iompair Éireann (Irish Transport Company)
- Electricity Supply Board
- Radio Telefís Éireann (Radio and Television of Ireland)
- Voluntary Health Insurance Board (Vhi Healthcare)
- Bord Gáis Éireann (Irish Gas Board)
- Horse Racing Ireland
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 at least two of the bodies above, VHI and RTÉ, will become limited companies in the near future. On 21 January 2006 The Irish Times reported that the ESB and BGE will also move to plc status. Under the Broadcasting Act 2001 the statutory corporation was the model proposed for the future independent TG4 (Telefis na Gaeilge), however the Broadcasting Bill 2006 changes this to a company limited by guarantee.
[edit] 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. Examples include:
- An Post (The Post Office).
- Bord na Mona plc (The Peat Board)
- Dublin Airport Authority plc
- Coillte Teoranta (The Irish Forestry Board Limited)
- Dublin Port Company
- EirGrid plc
- Bord na gCon (Irish Greyhound Board)
RTÉ and TG4 are proposed to become companies limited by guarentee under the Broadcasting Bill 2006.
[edit] Prominent subsidiaries of State-Sponsored Bodies
Companies which are subsidiaries of state-sponsored bodies, but which enjoy a separate identiy and legal existence, include:
Subsidiaries of Córas Iompair Éireann:
- Iarnród Éireann - Irish Rail
- Bus Éireann - Irish Bus
- Dublin Bus - Bus Átha Cliath
- Network Catering
Subsidiaries of Dublin Airport Authority:
Subsidiaries of An Post
Subsidiary of Radio Telefís Éireann:
- TG4 (Serbhisi Telefis na Gaeilge Teoranta) - planned to be statutory corporation in own right.
Subsidiary of Horse Racing Ireland
- Tote Ireland Limited
[edit] 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 share price following the company's flotation that many became opposed to future privatisations. Nevertheless, as of 2006 the latest privatisation has been that of Aer Lingus Group plc, on 2 October 2006.
[edit] List of privatised State-Sponsored Bodies
- Dairy Disposal Company - Dairies returned to private ownership
- Irish Sugar plc - listed on the Irish Stock Exchange as Greencore Group plc.
- Irish Life Assurance plc - listed on the ISE, later merged with Irish Permanent to form Irish Life and Permanent plc.
- Irish Steel - sold via trade sale to Irish Ispat.
- British and Irish Steampacket Company Limited - sold via trade sale to Irish Continental Group plc.
- Nitrigin Éireann Teoranta- merged with Irish part of Imperial Chemical Industries to become Irish Fertiliser Industries Limited (closed in 2002).
- Bord Telecom Éireann plc - listed on the ISE as Eircom 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 - owned by Eircom and RTE, sold via trade sale to NTL (and later sold on to Liberty Global Europe).
- Aer Lingus Group plc. (Irish International Airlines) - listed on the ISE. A minority government shareholding has been retained.
- Great Southern Hotels Group - privatised via trade sale. Some hotels are now rebranded CG Hotels and others retain the Great Southern name for now.
