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IRELAND HAS BEEN given its worst ever ranking on a global corruption index.
It was ranked 25 out of 176 countries, suggesting that corruption is a bigger problem in Ireland than in developing nations including Uruguay and the Bahamas, said Transparency International (TI).
The worst performing countries are Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia, while Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are perceived to be the least corrupt countries of those surveyed.
Political risk
The index is one of the most commonly used measures of political risk and is used by credit risk agency Standard and Poor’s to assess the likelihood of sovereign debt default.
(PA/PA Graphics/Press Association Images)
According to John Devitt, Chief Executive of TI Ireland:
If investors believe government decisions are being swayed by political or private gain, it could have a harmful effect for our economic recovery. Small, open economies are much more exposed to reputational risk that their more powerful counterparts. Risk-averse and politically aware investors will also look elsewhere when deciding where to locate or do business if they suspect that favoured businesses and government are in bed with one another’.
The poor results come after a succession of political controversies, including the Moriarty and Mahon Tribunals.
Devitt said that Ireland’s ranking “shows how little faith investors have in our ability to prevent the abuse of power”.
“Our failure to hold people to account for wrongdoing is also having a negative impact on international perceptions of Ireland,” he added.
Background
This year Transparency International has updated the methodology for the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012. To reflect this, the Corruption Perceptions Index is presented on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). It says the change in methodology is not believed to have significantly impacted on Ireland’s ranking or score.
The index draws on 13 surveys covering expert assessments and surveys of businesspeople. TI Ireland estimated in 2009 that Ireland could be losing €1 billion a year in foreign direct investment because of its relatively low position in the Corruption Perceptions Index. Ireland has slipped 11 places in the index since then.
According to the Eurobarometer survey for 2012, 86 per cent of Irish people said corruption is part of Ireland’s business culture, compared to the EU average of 67 per cent.
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The public service will finally bankrupt this country once and for all. The money just isn’t there to meet their demands. Unless the Government can raise money through taxing the private sector workers or raising corporation tax, there is no way this money can be paid. Then again a Government desperate to get re-elected are capable of doing anything to hold on to power. The unions are well aware of when the best time to declare war is.
@jo mixon: It’s the Consultants on big money who are draining the system not the hardworking nurses imo.
@ianglen: And why is 1 in 5 consultant jobs unfilled?
Perhaps you should campaign for further pay cuts for consultants ?
ANd any that dont like it can go off to Canada/Australia.
@jo mixon: Weel . They found the money to give the banks a 30 year tax write off.
@jo mixon: And there’s way too many clipboards managers as well. Morale isn’t good among hospital staff atm.
@ianglen: anyone who believes this is an idiot.
@jo mixon: yep the public service ie people who live work and spend in this country as unlike nama bondholders banks developers tax exiles and the other fuxxers who have had free run protected by government ask my hole merry xmas fg trolls
@ianglen: actually..healthcare workers are are team, we work together to care for our patients and it is an insult when ignorant comments such as this are made. I am an NCHD and work 80+hour weeks. I will leaving Ireland in July to Canada…leaving my family and friends in Ireland..this is not for money, but for a decent work life balance and a better system. I will be supporting my nursing colleagues as they strike. The system needs to change and the public needs to stop pointing fingers at those healthcare workers in it; we all work hard to do our best in a system stretched beyond its limits.
Duties above their original description. Bloody unions will co.e up with any inventive way of saying we want more money . Black hole of a health service. Cost multiples of the bus in Manchester and services the same amount of people where is the logic.
@john s: exactly, wont fix or go in any way to solve the mess that is the HSE and the inefficiences in that system which results in suffering for everyone
People blame consultants. Consultants are amazing, not when you have to fork in 150 euro for a consultancy,but when your life is in their hands. They are people that fix people. They face more decisions in a week, than a bank CEO and get paid less. I would hate their job.
This problem is on repeat now, Wage Inflation. We have an artificial property bubble that is driven by lack of supply. It is the source of all our ills at the moment. Money is the means to make things more affordable, but the driver is affordability.
Insurance, mortgage rates, house prices, we’re like an out of shape flabby tiger.
It will tank the economy, it tanked it before. It depends on Government action and leadership they need put about 2Bn into a NAMA style build project. This will just get worse and the strikes and protests will continue. We all sign into a private/public economic stability model, where the government delivers affordable housing as a core tenet and freely fully opens sectors such as insurance etc., mortgage rates. This public worker, private workers is nonsense, we all live here.
Remember the New children’s Hospital is running close to a billion over cost which also has to be paid the whole system is f##} up
Follow a consultation, Dr, Nurse and hca for a week at work and tell me that 99% don’t deserve a good wage compared to all the other fu#k wits in the HSE and other government departments.
Leo our leader was in charge of Health for a while and did SFA and
watch as he performs the same act again as the unions walk all over him
Blame the unions, blame the consultants, blame the public service. Such other and total rubbish.
The problems have been pointed out repeatedly by the unions and the nurses and the unions and even the patients and have been ignored by government for years,
The hard working private sector pay for everything. Wrong guess what public servants pay tax as well.
The HSE and Dept of Health is top heavy and technically in the dark ages as regards records and such. The actual part of the system of curing and helping people works well its the admin and management that costs so much.
Doctors should do doctors work and managers manage the business. At times its the other way around.
Take it apart and start again is the only solution
Britain spends 125 billion with 70 million people we spend 20 billion with 4 million people. I suppose some Numpties are going to tell me that Britain are spending too little ???? Doing the math that means Britain should spend a 2.2 trillion. Scary isnt it ????
@Marcus o Dhonnghaile: £127 ( 142 billion euro) billion spend is on England alone ( pop 55 million).
Irish population is 4.7 million HSE spend is 17 billion.
Not sure where you are getting the 2.2 trillion?
I find this scary, but for different reasons.
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