Five Irish firms - Aviva Health Insurance Ireland, Dell, Sisk Group, Taxback.com and Unicare Pharmacy - have been awarded a 'Ruban d'Honneur' prize in the penultimate stage of the European Business Awards.

In total, 100 Ruban d'Honneurs have been given to the 'creme de la creme' of companies across Europe.

The awards are sponsored by HSBC.

The Awards provide an opportunity for businesses of all sizes and across all sectors to represent their country on a pan European scale across eight awards categories.

The Ruban d'Honneur is awarded to ten successful entrants in each of the award categories - The Infosys Business of the Year Award, The RSM International Entrepreneur of the Year Award, The UKTI Award for Innovation, The Award for Customer Focus, The HSBC Growth Strategy of the Year Award, The Employer of the Year Award, The Award for Corporate Sustainability, The Environmental Awareness Award and the Chairman's Choice Award.

"It's a great credit to the companies involved and Ireland as a whole that we should have five award winners in such a prestigious European competition. It's a testimony to the level of drive and business initiative that we see from Irish companies on a day-to-day basis. I wish all five companies the best of luck at the next challenging round of judging," said Alan Duffy, Head of HSBC Corporate Banking, Ireland.

The next stage of the awards process will see the five Irish Ruban d'Honneur recipients take part in a series of face-to-face presentations and interviews to a panel of judges in London in September. Following this, all recipients will be invited to attend the European Business Awards Gala presentation ceremony at the Westin Hotel in Paris on November 16th where the overall award winners will be revealed in front of Europe's top business leaders, politicians, entrepreneurs, business commentators and media.