Tech giant Apple is once again Ireland's largest company.

That is according to the 'Irish Times Top 1000 Companies' list.

The list tracks and accesses the largest companies in the country, both north and south.

It says the US firm saw turnover of €119.2bn to December 2017 - up from an estimated €8.5bn the year before.

The company first established operations in Ireland in 1980 and now employs over 5,000 people.

Google, CRH, Medtronic and Eaton Corp round out the top five firms.

Microsoft comes in at number seven, employing some 2,000 people here.

Microsoft's Dublin campus in Leopardstown | Image: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Retail has the largest presence by sector, with 185 companies on the list.

These include Pfizer, Penneys, Musgrave and Dunnes Stores.

Penneys - which trades as Primark outside Ireland - is 25th on the list overall, with turnover of €4.5bn and 4,800 employees.

File photo

The manufacturing, food, business technology and health sectors make up the top five.

Banks are also contributing heavily to profits.

Out of 75 financial companies listed with profit details, just eight of them - or 11% of the total - reported a loss in their most recent financial year.

Overall, the top 1,000 companies reported gross sales of €686bn - up 10% on last year's survey.

Sales generated - which included sales transacted from Ireland by multinationals and global sales for multinationals that are headquartered here - are far in excess of the income Ireland as a country is generating.

Irish GDP stood at about €319bn in 2018 - while the top 1,000 companies generated revenues of almost €700bn.