The tribunals of inquiry are value for money and should be allowed to continue their work, leading global anti-corruption lobby group Transparency International (TI) has argued.
Publishing its latest Global Corruption Barometer, which monitors public attitudes to corruption in 60 states, TI warned that the Irish public view political parties as "the most corrupt of all institutions in the State".
The public believes that the Defence Forces are the most honest, followed by teachers and civil servants dealing with births, deeds, licences and permits, according to the poll.
Curiously, the public has much stronger faith in the honesty of the Dáil and Seanad as institutions than they do in the political parties that send representatives to either chamber of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Journalists, doctors, religious bodies and An Garda Síochána occupy the middle-ranking positions in the corruption league, with, perhaps surprisingly, journalists being the ones to generate the highest faith among the public.
Worryingly, 47 per cent of those polled fear that corruption will "increase a lot, or a little" over the next three years; while 44 per cent believe it will recede by similar levels. Just 1 per cent expressed no opinion.
Two years ago the public were much more optimistic. Then, 32 per cent of those polled feared that corruption would rise, 37 per cent believed it would remain the same while 28 per cent felt it would get better.
"The debate around the length and cost of tribunals misses one important point: overall they are good value for money. They should be allowed to get on with their job", claimed the lobby group's national director, John Devitt.
While the Mahon tribunal has cost €70 million so far and a further €200m by its finish, it has, he said, enabled the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) to start proceedings to seize €50 million from a Carrickmines land sale by Jackson Way Properties.
"Using laws introduced in 2005, the Cab is now able to present evidence acquired by the Mahon or Moriarty tribunals to secure a High Court "corrupt enrichment" order to seize the value of bribes or assets believed to have been acquired through a corrupt payment, said the lobby group.
The Cab application is under appeal by Jackson Way, but if "it is successful, it is believed that it could open the way for the State to recoup a substantial proportion of costs from the tribunals and dwarf the amount seized from organised crime gangs since 1996". The tribunals' "indirect economic benefits" are even more substantial.
"Over €2 billion in evaded tax is estimated to have been collected by the Revenue Commissioners arising from evidence gathered at the tribunals, Ansbacher and Dirt [ inquiries]," said Mr Devitt.
"The claim that tribunals are too expensive and lengthy has some validity. But any attempt to close them down will not only do irreversible damage to our international reputation, but could also short-change the Irish taxpayer."
