The Government has defended its record in fighting corruption in a response to a Council of Europe report that warned of complacency in dealing with white-collar crime.
The Department of Justice last week filed Ireland's official response to the report from the Council's Group of States against Corruption (Greco), which had recommended greater action to deal with corruption.
The response was cleared by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, before being submitted over three months past the deadline set by Greco. The Department said it had sought and was granted an extension.
The Irish response will now be reviewed by rapporteurs from two other members-states of the council before it is published along with a final "compliance" report.
Its submission follows a lot of activity in recent months, which has seen Ireland ratify three anti-corruption treaties designed to strengthen international co-operation in the area.
Earlier this month, Ireland ratified the council's Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, which applies to money-laundering as well as bribery in both the private and public sector. In September, it ratified the OECD Convention on the Bribing of Foreign Public Officials and earlier in the year, the EU Convention on Active or Passive Corruption, which applies to officials of EU bodies.
Greco's assessment of the Irish situation, published in December 2001, found that Ireland appeared to be one of the European states least affected by corruption. However, it said the absence of accurate information and research raised doubts about the reliability of this claim.
Irish officials repeatedly told the Greco investigators that "everyone knew everyone" in Ireland, so it was relatively easy to "flush out" corrupt relationships between criminals and public officials.
However, the investigators were not convinced. They identified indications of a link between organised crime and corruption and warned that recent prominent cases of corruption could be "the tip of an iceberg".
They were especially critical of Garda procedures for investigating corruption, particularly within the force itself. Its use of police officers to investigate the majority of complaints against the force lacked independence and objectivity and was not appropriate "within such a close-knit community". Police independence did not seem to be guaranteed in the law or through procedures and the lack of an informant-handling policy within the Garda was seen as a "significant point of weakness".
The investigators also noted the work of the tribunals in investigating corruption and the amount of time they are taking. Consideration should be given to parallel criminal Garda investigations in order to safeguard vital evidence, they suggested.
