Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 630: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Ireland has been placed at number 16 on the Transparency International Global Corruption Report 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33820/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Transparency International is a non-governmental organisation that publishes a report each year giving an overview of corruption around the globe. This report also contains the Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) which charts levels of corruption in countries worldwide. The CPI has a rating scale of between 10 and 0, with a score close to 10 indicating an extremely low level of corruption, and a score close to 0 indicating a very high level of corruption.

In the 2009 Report, Ireland is ranked jointly with the United Kingdom at 16th place with a CPI score of 7.7. This is in comparison to the 2008 report which ranked Ireland in 17th place with a CPI score of 7.5. The 2009 assessment means that Transparency International has assessed that Ireland is the 16th least corrupt country out of the 180 countries analysed. While there is no room for complacency, Ireland's ranking in relation to global corruption has improved. It is my intention to enact the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2008 at the earliest opportunity. Enactment of this Bill will allow for the ratification of the UN Convention Against Corruption and will help ensure that Ireland's rating will continue to improve.