Ireland 14th Least Corrupt Country

Ireland has finished in the top twenty countries least hampered by corruption in a survey published today.

The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International, placed Ireland as 14th in world for resisting corruption.

The index shows nearly three quarters of the 178 countries surveyed by the index scored below five, on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). And despite Ireland's relatively clean score of 8.0, the results still indicate a serious worldwide corruption problem.

A spokesman from the watchdog said: "With governments committing huge sums to tackle the world's most pressing problems, from the instability of financial markets to climate change and poverty, corruption remains an obstacle to achieving much needed progress."

He said that to address corruption, governments needed to integrate anti-corruption measures in all spheres, from their responses to the financial crisis and climate change to commitments by the international community to eradicate poverty.

Citing examples of the Morris Tribunal, Moriarty Tribunal, revelations over AIB, FÁS, land rezoning and investigations into even the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, Transparency International said corruption had been a growing feature of public discourse in Ireland over the past decade. The group said that state tribunals, investigations and media revelations of wrongdoing in public and corporate life had heightened perceptions of corruption and led to a momentum for reform in many of the State's key institutions and systems.

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore were declared as the cleanest country's, each with a score of 9.3, while the most corrupt countries were Afganistan, Burma (Myanmar) and Somalia.

Transparency International said it was clear that across the globe, transparency and accountability are critical to restoring trust and turning back the tide of corruption. Without them, global policy solutions to many global crises are at risk.

(DW/GK)