State's corruption ranking falls

Ireland has dropped five places to 19th in a survey measuring perceived corruption in 183 countries and territories around the world.

Ireland scored 7.5 on a scale of 0-10 – with 0 being highly corrupt and 10 very clean - and now compares poorly to other northern European states according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).

This year’s index shows Ireland tied with Belgium among northern European countries with Britain one place above and only France (25th) achieving a lower score. Last year, the State was ranked 14th with a score of eight.

New Zealand topped the ranking with a score of 9.5 followed by Denmark (9.4), Finland (9.4), Sweden (9.3) and Singapore (9.2). Somalia and North Korea were seen as the most corrupt countries with a ranking of one each.

The CPI measures perceptions of business people and experts of corruption in the public sector. It looks at factors such as enforcement of anti-corruption laws, access to information and conflicts of interest.

TI Ireland’s chief executive John Devitt said the drop in ranking could deter international investment and he called on the Government to act.

“Ireland’s reputation has been tarnished by the banking crisis which exposed a cosy-cartel culture involving bankers, business elites and politicians,” he said. “The country’s international reputation now rests as much on our leaders’ commitment to open up government and uphold the rule of law as it does on fixing our economy."

Mr Devitt said the Government needs to extend access to official information, legislate for whistleblower protection and reform political funding.

He also called for the Criminal Assets Bureau to be given the resources it needs to investigate the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal.