Tobacco firms, oil companies and arms manufacturers are among the companies in which the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) invested last year.
In its annual report for 2002, released yesterday, the NPRF detailed the various global companies in which the international fund managers who act on its behalf had invested.
Despite the Government's attempts to stop Irish people smoking, the funds included British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco in Britain and Philip Morris in the US.
Arms suppliers such as Canada's Bombardier, French group Thales and Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon in the US also featured on the list.
Other controversial investment choices included oil companies such as Cheverontexaco and Royal Dutch Petroleum and genetically modified food group Monsanto.
Mining companies like BHP Billiton in the UK also appear on the list as does Halliburton, the controversial Texas-based company formerly headed by US Vice-President Dick Cheney, which won significant contracts to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure.
However, the NTMA, which manages the pension fund, said it was operating within the guidelines laid down for the fund which did not include any ethical criteria. Instead, fund managers were told they simply had to generate a commercial return.
Meanwhile, the fund's Irish investments represented just 0.63 per cent of the total last year. They mainly included blue-chip stocks such as AIB, Bank of Ireland, CRH and Kerry Group.
Ryanair, Riverdeep, DCC, Independent News & Media and Irish Life & Permanent were on the list of 10 Irish stocks as was Elan, the firm formerly headed by NPRF chairman Mr Donal Geaney, which represented 0.1 per cent of the overall fund in 2002.
