The bitter-sweet irony eluded the interviewer: Ireland, one of the richest members of the European Union, was being advised to follow the example of the once-Stalinist states to the east, writes Dick Walsh.
These states, now waiting for admission to the Union, had recognised the damage done by corruption and cronyism in the years before the old regimes collapsed; they'd set up mechanisms to deal with the problems which the new administrations had inherited.
Here, we've had a series of tribunals, most of which have yet to come up with results, though the problems are home-grown - not imposed - and everyone seems to know who is to blame. (We've also had some of the richest people in the country doing their legal best to frustrate all inquiries at every hand's turn).
But, as Nuala Haughey, our correspondent on social and racial affairs, reported on Thursday, corruption is still a central theme of Irish life and politics, while our human rights standards are below internationally accepted levels.
The author of the research from which she quoted, Brian Harvey, repeated his findings on RTÉ's News at One. His interviewer, Seán O'Rourke, was mildly incredulous. The Fianna Fáil-led coalition had increased the number of prison places by 2,000 - an achievement of which its Ministers spoke with pride.
Mr Harvey, whose research is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, was unimpressed: far from being proud of our rapidly increasing prison population, he said, Ministers ought to be ashamed. Many prisoners were mentally ill and should be in hospital; some were kept for long periods in padded cells; some of our prisons were Victorian.
He reported that minorities - Travellers and immigrants - were among those most harshly treated by our system of justice; that it remained more difficult for the poor man than for the better off to get a hearing. When it came to sentencing, judges seldom chose alternatives to prison.
Based on information obtained from national, international and EU sources, voluntary and official organisations, Mr Harvey had assembled some "awkward, unpleasant but real facts" and a series of comparisons with other EU states in which Ireland invariably came off worst.
Few of our politicians or public servants (not to mention bishops) will bat an eyelid at this. It's the way we are. Isn't it? Of course, some expected us to improve with wealth. (Optimists, do-gooders, the loony left, according to the Attorney General).
Did they really think the strategies which were supposed to bridge the gap between rich and poor would succeed?
As Mr Harvey notes, the strategies were weak and ineffectual; the tax system and the Department of Finance were pushing in the opposite direction.
Corruption and cronyism are part of what we are. (Did you say "part"?) Does anyone imagine that when Bertie Ahern talks about cleaning up politics he means to stop the appointment of party hacks to State boards? Or that any of the parties seriously intends to end the close relationship between the judiciary and politics?
The appearance of this report as the parties prepare for a general election may be inconvenient for Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. It's unlikely to embarrass Charlie McCreevy, Michael McDowell or the Friedmanite economists and businessmen who take it upon themselves to tell the electorate how it is "in the real world".
(Economists should come with a health warning or at any rate with a label which lets the public know that many of them are far from independent and some are paid for their opinions).
MR McCreevy, as Labour's Derek McDowell pointed out the other day, will continue to hide from serious debate, leaving the likes of David Hanly to mind the shop. Michael McDowell, another hard-chaw, fresh from his referendum triumph, will prattle on about red and green coalitions.
But there are signs that some who are older, wiser and more disinterested than Mssrs McCreevy, McDowell and their cheerleaders have begun to question the direction in which we've been galloping, with increasing recklessness.
T.K. Whitaker, in an essay written for The Irish Times to mark his 85th birthday last year, traced economic developments from independence to 2001 in measured tones, expressing satisfaction at the progress we'd made and some surprise at the speed of recent change.
But he acknowledged that much poverty remained; and warned that its eradication could be slowed down by the inadequacy of support for students from poorer families at third-level education. He was concerned, too, at the way in which budgets had attempted to emulate Santa Claus: "I confess to having been disappointed that more was not done in recent budgets to improve directly the lot of the poor and the ill," he wrote. "For this cause I, for one, would not mind being the little boy that Santa Claus forgot."
Mr Whitaker reminded us of other issues - the Irish language, cultural life generally and the contribution of Lyric FM in particular - to which we must pay attention. It was a reminder echoed this week by another eminent observer, the historian Joe Lee.
"We like to congratulate ourselves on the fruits of our social partnership," he said in a lecture in Limerick. "But we do not have social partnership. We have a form of economic power partnership."
When the main problem facing the Republic was unemployment, the economic priorities were clear. "But full employment brings all sorts of complexities," including immigration, environmental issues and relations with Europe. They required policy-makers to think in terms of society as a whole rather than as a group of economic sectors.
T.K. Whitaker and Joe Lee have contributed much to Irish life and culture. In the course of this general election campaign, we need to hear from them again - and again and again.