Irish public bodies must do more to address corruption-related risks, according to new transparency study

Bord Iascaigh Mhara, on 86%, achieved the highest overall score on the NII for Non-Commercial Public Bodies, followed by the Public Appointments Service on 80%. 

Transparency International (TI) Ireland has today launched its second National Integrity Index (NII) report on public sector bodies. The report looks at what 40 of Ireland’s non-commercial public bodies are doing to address corruption-related risks based on an evaluation of their policies and disclosure practices. It examines the adoption and publication of policies and procedures in five areas: anti-corruption and anti-bribery programmes, financial transparency, open governance, responsible political engagement, and whistleblowing policies. 

‘The purpose of the index is to understand how many of our public bodies are adopting policies and procedures aimed at stopping corruption and how many are putting those policies into the public domain. By doing so, we hope to encourage more state agencies to follow their lead, safeguard scarce public resources from misuse and strengthen public confidence in those institutions’, said John Devitt, Chief Executive of TI Ireland and the report’s editor.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara, on 86%, achieved the highest overall score on the NII for Non-Commercial Public Bodies, followed by the Public Appointments Service on 80%. The majority of the organisations assessed – 21 out of 40 – scored fewer than half of the points available. The average overall score across the five indicators was 49%.

Six organisations (An Garda Síochána, Central Bank of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency, Land Development Agency, Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the Office of the Ombudsman) received full marks in the Open Governance category and four organisations (the Irish Prison Service, Property Registration Authority, the Revenue Commissioners and Tusla (Child and Family Agency)) scored full marks in the Whistleblowing Policies category.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara (94%) scored the highest marks on the Anti-Corruption category; the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) scored the highest in the Financial Transparency category with a score of 92%; while three organisations (Higher Education Authority, National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) and the Public Appointments Service) topped the Responsible Political Engagement category with a score of 75%. Several organisations failed to score any marks in certain categories, in particular the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Bribery Programmes and Responsible Political Engagement categories.

‘It should also be noted that the study, and an organisation’s position on the index is not a reflection of how well a public body prevents corruption or protects whistleblowers but tells us whether they have made a commitment to do so and if they have taken the minimum steps necessary with their policies to address the risk of wrongdoing or support those exposing it. It’s not enough to have policies and procedures in place, organisations also need to take prompt action in response to identified risks and allegations of wrongdoing’, Mr Devitt said.

‘It is particularly worrying that most (38 out of 40) organisations did not publish adequate anti-corruption due diligence procedures for suppliers and other third-parties engaged in transactions with public bodies. This is especially a concern given public bodies procure an estimated €17 billion in goods and services each year’, Mr Devitt added

Some of the country’s biggest purchasers of goods and services including the HSE which spends around €4 billion on public contracts, and NAMA which had sold almost €40 billion in state assets by 2020 do not publish robust third-party due diligence procedures to address corruption risks. An Bord Pleanala, which has been the subject of public controversy over alleged conflicts of interest also scored poorly on the Anti-Corruption category with a score of 17%. 

After public bodies were informed of the initial findings by TI Ireland’s researchers in May 2022, organisations improved their scores by an average of 32% by publishing policies and procedures on their websites or making them available to TI Ireland. Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg) and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland more than doubled their scores (from 38% to 86%, 33% to 72%, and from 31% to 66% respectively) by publishing their policies and procedures online after being contacted by TI Ireland’s researchers.

‘It’s encouraging to see some public bodies already responding to our recommendations but there’s some way to go before most agencies can show they have adopted adequate measures to address corruption-related risks’.

We are also aware that some of the public bodies’ powers or lack thereof are out of their control, but it is important that where they can publish or adopt clearer and more robust policies aimed at stopping corruption or dedicating additional personnel and resources to address those risks, they should do so’, said Mr Devitt

TI Ireland has made the following eight recommendations aimed at strengthening anti-corruption and governance controls inside Irish public bodies:

1. Publish governance documents and make them easily accessible to the public online
2. Make disclosure of policies meaningful through monitoring and reporting on performance
3. Set the tone from the top with an unambiguous high-level commitment against corruption and bribery.
4. Equip staff with the training and resources to implement anti-corruption measures.
5. Publish a comprehensive, proactive, risk-based anti-corruption and anti-bribery programme.
6. Provide clear information on asset disposal and procurement procedures and disclose details of procurement contracts awarded.
7. Commit to a policy on responsible political engagement, lobbying and political neutrality.
8. Adopt a protected disclosures/whistleblowing policy that does not include a ‘good faith’ requirement.

OVERALL SCORES (%) AND RANKING

The interactive table lists the organisations alphabetically and gives their overall score and ranking in the index.

The following 40 organisations were selected for assessment from the Central Statistics Office’s Register of Public Sector Bodies:

An Bord Pleanála, Bord Bia, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Central Bank of Ireland, Central Statistics Office (CSO), Charities Regulatory Authority, Citizens’ Information Board, Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg), Courts Service, Data Protection Commission, Enterprise Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fáilte Ireland, An Garda Síochána, Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), Health Service Executive (HSE), Higher Education Authority (HEA), IDA Ireland, Irish Prison Service, Land Development Agency, Legal Aid Board, Local Government Management Agency, National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), National Oil Reserves Agency, National Transport Authority (NTA), National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), Office of Public Works (OPW), Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Office of the Ombudsman, Property Registration Authority, Public Appointments Service, Revenue Commissioners, Science Foundation Ireland, State Examinations Commission, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), Teagasc, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Tusla (Child and Family Agency), Údarás na Gaeltachta, and the Valuation Office.

A recording of the report launch is available here.

Notes for editors

Founded in 2004, Transparency International (TI) Ireland is the Irish chapter of Transparency International, the global organisation dedicated to stopping corruption worldwide.

TI Ireland’s National Integrity Index (NII) project is a series of reports and indices measuring the degree to which organisations across the public and private sectors in Ireland are prepared to address corruption-related risks, based on the information they disclose to the public. It is based on the National Integrity Systems framework and methodology applied in numerous Transparency in Corporate Reporting reports published since 2008 by Transparency International and its chapters in more than 30 countries.

TI Ireland carried out NII studies on local authorities and the private sector in Ireland in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and its first NII report on public bodies in late 2021. If funding allows, TI Ireland intends to conduct further assessments of disclosure practices on a biannual basis so that the organisations assessed and their stakeholders can monitor their progress.

The National Integrity Index research series is published with the support of the Community Foundation for Ireland. However, it reflects the views of TI Ireland alone.