I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the Council of Europe Agreement establishing the Group of States Against Corruption, adopted by the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe on 5th May, 1998, at Strasbourg, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 21st January, 1999.
The establishment of the Group of States Against Corruption is an important develoment in the international fight against corruption. The Council of Europe has already done a great deal of good work in this area through developing guiding principles for the fight against corruption and earlier this year, finalising a criminal law convention on corruption. Ireland, of course, strongly supports these developments, and legislation to enable ratification of the convention is currently under preparation. The establishment of this group represents a further development of this process in that it puts in place a mechanism of mutual evaluation to ensure compliance with these commitments.
Membership of the group will mean that paper adherence to Council of Europe anti-corruption standards will not suffice. Participating states, with Ireland I hope very much to the fore, will voluntarily submit to detailed and ongoing evaluation of compliance. This is a significant step which I very much welcome and for which I invite the support of the House.
The group is commonly referred to by its French acronym GRECO. The agreement, although approved by the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe last year, did not come into force until 1 May of this year because the agreement contains a commencement clause whereby 14 signatories are needed before its formal adoption, and that threshold was reached only last month.
GRECO is being established for an initial period of three years and its operation will then be reviewed. Each participating state may appoint up to two representatives to the group. GRECO will operate on the basis of mutual evaluation. Participating states will be regularly examined for compliance with anti-corruption obligations by a team selected from experts nominated by all the participating states. An evaluation will initially be based on answers to a questionnaire, but this may be followed by a visit by the investigating team to the state under examination. An evaluation report will be drawn up and the state under examination will be invited to comment before the draft report is submitted to GRECO. The draft report will be debated in a plenary session of GRECO and the state under examination may submit observations orally or in writing before adoption of the report. The report may recommend improvements in domestic legislation or practice and, if so, the state concerned will be invited to report on any measures taken to implement the recommendations. Evaluation reports will be confidential but GRECO may issue a public statement if a state responds inadequately to any recommendations.
There are no direct implications for Irish law in this agreement although Ireland would, of course, be expected to take account of any recommendations made by GRECO in respect of our compliance with Council of Europe obligations.
The agreement is to be financed by annual compulsory contributions by the members of GRECO together with additional voluntary contributions, whether by members of GRECO or other sources. It is intended that the percentage contribution for each participating state will be the same as its normal rate of contribution to the Council of Europe. In the case of Ireland this is 0.5 per cent, which in an initial estimate would mean an annual contribution by Ireland to GRECO of approximately £3,000.
As the agreement establishing GRECO is an international agreement involving a charge on public funds its terms must, under Article 29 of the Constitution, be approved by this House in order for the State to be bound by it. I am asking the House for that approval. This is a good agreement. Membership by Ireland of GRECO will demonstrate not only our commitment to fight corruption, but our willingness for that commitment to be put to the test. I commend this agreement to the House.