Transparency International (TI) Ireland welcomes the publication of the State’s first national Strategy to combat Economic Crime and Corruption today. It is a step towards a more strategic approach to tackling corruption and wider economic crime, which TI Ireland recommended in our Safe Haven? Report in 2021 and in previous submissions to government on the issue.
The new Strategy contains measures to:
- Improve the collection, analysis and use of relevant data, including through the use of sectoral risk assessments;
- Develop cross-sectoral partnerships, including enhanced policy coordination and knowledge-sharing with civil society and academia;
- Ensure appropriate investigation and prosecution tools, including enhanced international cooperation and consideration of non-trial resolution measures;
- Improve asset seizure and confiscation mechanisms, including through Ireland’s participation in relevant international legal instruments and initiatives; and
- Deliver a more coordinated approach to prevention of economic crime and corruption, including via education and information campaigns.
These are all important measures, however, their success will depend on effective implementation to ensure that the Strategy drives coordinated action across government, business and wider society. To achieve this, TI Ireland has made the following recommendations:
- Effective implementation requires clarity, coordination, accountability and transparency. This means that commitments and actions should have clear ownership, timescales for delivery, and mechanisms for coordination and review, assisted as appropriate by the Advisory Council on Economic Crime and Corruption.* Annual publication of progress against the Strategy and Action Plan would help to drive implementation, unblock barriers and achieve strategic priorities.
- A viable strategy is predicated on an accurate understanding of the threats against which it is directed. A mechanism should therefore be established to develop a periodic national threat assessment of economic crime and corruption. This should include a focus on transnational threats, reflecting Ireland’s open economy and role as a leading global financial centre, and be closely coordinated with other relevant Irish, EU and international threat assessments.
- A successful strategic response recognises that no single sector, department or agency can tackle these challenges alone. Creating a hostile environment for economic crime and corruption therefore requires a cross-government and genuine whole-of-society partnership approach. This includes regular engagement with civil society, academics, international organisations and other voices that may offer constructive challenge to current policy, thinking or approaches.
- Data is essential for detection and investigation. This requires a focus on the accessibility, functionality and quality of datasets covering corporate structures and beneficial ownership, not just for public authorities but also for businesses, compliance professionals, journalists, civil society and the wider public. Transparency initiatives – including Ireland’s Open Government commitments – have an important role to play in tackling economic crime and corruption.
- A dynamic strategy cannot stand still. In a world in which criminal threats are constantly evolving, the Strategy must remain a dynamic framework capable of adapting to rapid economic, social and technological changes. In addition to regularly reviewing progress on delivery of specific actions, the Strategy itself should be subject to periodic review, including by independent experts, to ensure that it remains relevant within rapidly changing contexts.
- Successful detection, investigation and prosecution relies on law enforcement and regulators having appropriate capacity, capabilities, mandates and powers. Significant investment is required in the skills, tools and staffing of specialist Garda units, whilst the mandates and powers of other enforcement and regulatory bodies should be reviewed to ensure they are fit to tackle the scale and complexity of high-level, transnational economic crime and corruption.
- Corruption cannot be treated as a second order concern. Recognising the particularly corrosive effect of corruption on prosperity, democracy and society, the new EU Anti-Corruption Directive requires member states to adopt national anti-corruption strategies by 2029. Developing coordinated but distinct strategies against corruption and economic crime (as in Finland and the UK) will be an important next step in treating corruption with the seriousness it deserves.
The development of a national Strategy to Combat Economic Crime and Corruption is a welcome development, though its value will depend on effective implementation. Together with our colleagues across TI’s global network, TI Ireland will continue to engage constructively with the Government and other partners to help Ireland become a hostile environment for dirty money.
More information on TI Ireland’s work on illicit finance is available here.
* The Advisory Council on Economic Crime and Corruption was established in May 2022. TI Ireland’s Chief Executive, John Devitt, has served as a civil society member of the Council since June 2024.