Ireland perceived as less corrupt than UK for first time in 25 years

Ireland has been deemed less corrupt than the UK for the first time in 25 years, according to a new study. 

The latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has given Ireland a score of 77 out of 100 and a ranking of 10th place out of 180 countries, placing it ahead of  Canada and the UK for the first time since 1997. 

Last year, Ireland received a score of 74 out of 100 and ranked in 13th place. 

John Devitt, Chief Executive of Transparency International Ireland, said it was good news that Ireland is perceived as being less corrupt than its neighbors in the UK. 

"It's the first time we've finished above the UK in 25 years, and the first time ever that we've finished ahead of Canada," Devitt told Irish radio station Newstalk. 

"I think that's in large part because of the absence of a major controversy that's attracted international attention - unlike '98/'99 when Ireland suffered a sharp drop in our score.

"We haven't seen the kind of revelations of corruption that the tribunals exposed, and the Mahon Tribunal concluded that corruption was systemic in local government and politics." 

Established in November 1997, the Mahon Tribunal was a public inquiry into corrupt payments made to Irish politicians and councilors and led to the eventual resignation of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern from Fianna Fáil in 2012. 

Devitt said Ireland still had its "fair share of controversies" in recent years, including failures by politicians to disclose political campaign donations and expenses. 

However, he noted that the current controversies are "not at the same level" as the scandals of the late 1990s. 

Devitt noted that corruption exists in every country but said Ireland needs to renew its commitment to anti-corruption reforms. 

"We need to take a risk-based approach to tackling the problem by reforming the way in which our public officials disclose information, share it with the Standards In Public Office Commission," he told Newstalk. 

"Currently that system is outdated; our ethics laws haven't been reformed in over 20 years." 

He also said Ireland needed to do more to tackle corruption from overseas and said the Irish financial sector is "very vulnerable" to the laundering of proceeds of corruption. 

"Billions of euros are likely to be moving through our banks and financial services sector."