Survey finds public sector corruption static

IRELAND’S reputation for corruption in the public sector has not improved in the past year according to Transparency International.

Rated the 18th least corrupt in a list of 163 countries, it falls well behind fellow EU member state, Finland, which topped the list and Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.

Its score remained static at 7.4 this year, which is well down from the 8.57 achieved in 1995 when the country ranked 11th in the world.

Bottom of the list is Iraq, Burma and Haiti with scores of 1.9.

The score is based on several surveys of experts on their perception of corruption in countries.

For example, those attending the world economic forum were asked how commonly their firms would bribe or make secret payments to those in other countries.

The report also commented on third-world countries that benefit from Ireland’s aid programme. Uganda had made most progress rising from 2.5 to 2.7 followed by Ethiopia in a scale that goes from 1 to 10.

Transparency International chief executive in Ireland John Devitt said: “The index shows that no country is completely free of corruption so none have any room for complacency. More needs to be done to prevent corruption at home and far more done in Ireland to help combat corruption overseas.”

He pointed out that there was a strong correlation between corruption and poverty with all low-income countries and all but two African states scoring below five.

Transparency International has called on the Irish Government to lend much greater technical and financial assistance to partner country governments, parliaments and civil society to fight corruption.

It has also urged the Government to ratify the United Nations convention against corruption early next year.

A transparency reportearlier this year showed that while a number of foreign bribery allegations had been made against Irish companies recently, no official investigations had ever taken place.

Mr Devitt said that implementing the UN convention should mean stronger safeguards against corruption in Ireland with the establishment of specialised agencies to tackle bribery and legal protections introduced to protect whistle-blowers.