Ireland plunges in non-corrupt nations rankings

IRELAND has tumbled from 11th to 19th in the latest world rankings of the least corrupt countries for business, a leading international anti-corruption group said yesterday.

Transparency International said yesterday Ireland’s fall over the last 10 years meant the Government needed to do more to tackle corruption and boost perceptions of the country by businesspeople overseas.

The latest rankings gave Ireland 7.4 out of 10, down from 7.5 last year and 8.5 10 years ago. A ranking closer to 10 indicates that a country is perceived as “highly clean”, the group said.