Consumers here see credit unions as the most reputable organisation in the country for the fourth year in a row, according to Ireland's Reputations Index 2026.
Conducted by the Reputations Agency, the survey asks 5,000 consumers a range of questions to gague which brands, businesses and organisations are held in highest esteem.
"They are asked a series of questions around 100 of Ireland's most important and impactful organisations," said Alan Tyrrell, CEO of the Reputations Agency. "Those questions relate to esteem, admiration, trust and feeling, but also going into real drivers of reputation, including products and services."
Once again credit unions came out with the best report from that process - topping the list for another year. The IRFU's reputation improved significantly year-on-year to move it to second place in the survey, while An Post was in third place.
Mr Tyrrell said it did so in large part due to how it conducts itself when interacting with customers.
"Product and service obviously has to be right for any business trying to survive - you have to have the right product and service and they have," said Mr Tyrrell. "But conduct is actually a stronger reputation driver than anything else is what consumers are saying.
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"Conduct includes trust... are they open and transparent, are they fair in the way they do business?"
Credit Unions ranked well ahead of big banks like Bank of Ireland, PTSB and AIB - though Revolut performed relatively well, ranking 13th overall.
"Value for money is still a really crucial part of how things happen," he said. "Revolut is number two for value for money, but value goes beyond price.
"What Revolut are doing is simplicity, innovation and product and service."
German retailer Aldi moved up to fifth place in this year's survey, while Lidl was ranked 11th. That put them both ahead of the reputation ranking of Tesco, Dunnes and Supervalu - despite them having a smaller market share.
However Mr Tyrrell said there is a link between a good reputation and sales.
"If you take Lidl as an example, it is the fastest growing retailer in the market over the past year," he said. "The research that we have going back over 17 years, there's a clear correlation between a strong reputation and strong business growth."
Meanwhile major social media firms continued to rank poorly.
Both Meta and X sat at the bottom of the list - as they did in 2025 - though this year their positions had switched, with X now in bottom place.
That not only has an impact on consumers' perception, but also on your attractiveness in other ways.
"So trust is a crucial, crucial point in any reputation-building exercise," he said. "If you have a good reputation, willingness to buy goes up by a factor of 19.
"Willingness to work for you goes up to much higher than in other strands," he added.
