Irish share global fear of growing corruption

IRISH people share a global view that political parties are the most corrupt bodies in the world, according to a survey published yesterday.

Citizens in 48 of the 69 countries surveyed, including Ireland, feel that corruption has worsened over the past three years.

Political parties were followed by parliaments, police and judicial systems in the worldwide study to mark yesterday’s International Anti-Corruption Day 2005.

Consumers’ Association of Ireland chief executive Dermott Jewell said he was “not surprised” by the survey findings regarding the Irish perception that areas of business were corrupt.

“And it will take quite a significant amount of change in attitudes for it to alter to any significant degree,” he said.

He cited recent controversies over widespread overcharging by banks as well as petrol prices which seemed to show no element of competition.

With regard to political parties, Mr Jewell said the spate of tribunals in this country were obvious examples of political corruption at work.

David Nussbaum, chief executive of Berlin-based survey group Transparency International, said people in Ireland thought corruption levels would stay about the same over the next few years.

“In Ireland, as in the majority of countries around the world, political parties stand out as the area in which people feel are most affected by corruption,” he said.

Asked what action was required, he said businesses needed to introduce programmes to tackle the possibility of corruption throughout their operations.

And ordinary people needed to make clear their expectations and demands that people operate with integrity.

Mr Nussbaum said: “We’ve surveyed 55,000 people in 69 countries and it tells us that populations are very concerned, particularly about corruption in the political arena, but also in the business world.”

Corruption involves bribery by people for services, such as health and education, to which they are entitled.

So-called “grand” corruption involves people with significant power who use it to extract money from the system, sometimes in very large amounts.

Mr Nussbaum said people with positions of responsibility and power were being looked to by people to make changes so that corruption levels could decrease in the future.

Transparency International is recommending that governments ratify the UN convention against corruption, which was signed by 130 countries more than two years ago.