POLITICIANS and civil servants found guilty of corruption will be forced out of office and banned from returning to their posts for up to a decade.

Long-awaited legislation will expand prosecutors' powers to bring public representatives to justice where there is a suggestion of corrupt acts.

A long series of tribunals and court cases has heard evidence of corruption in public life down the decades, but there have been hardly any convictions.

The Irish Independent has learned new legislation will hand extra powers to the courts and strengthen the ability of the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring criminal charges against those suspected of corruption.

Prison sentences up to a maximum of 10 years as well as unlimited fines can be imposed on those convicted in the Circuit Criminal Court for bribery or corruption.

The new legislation will introduce a ban of up to 10 years on people with criminal convictions for corruption running for political office. There is currently no such prohibition.

The proposal to tighten up anti-corruption measures was first put forward months after the publication of the findings of the Mahon tribunal.

Its report concluded that corruption affected every level of Irish political life - despite this, there have been very few convictions for political corruption.

The Mahon Tribunal became a 14-year inquiry which cost €160m but only one person - former lobbyist Frank Dunlop - was convicted of corruption.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald told the Irish Independent last night that publication of the new legislation is imminent following a two-year review. The legislation will contain a new offence of making payments knowingly or recklessly to a third party, who intended to use them as bribes.

It will also be a crime for public officials to use confidential information to corruptly obtain an advantage. Additional powers for the DPP will allow prosecutions by providing for the presumption of corruption where:

• A person, with an interest in the functions being discharged by a public official, makes a payment to the official, such as an applicant for planning permission handing over cash to a county council or town planner

• A public official fails to declare interests, as required by ethics legislation

• A public official accepts a gift in breach of ethics codes.

Ms Fitzgerald added that the Government is determined that corruption in any form would not be tolerated.

"When enacted, this legislation will clarify and strengthen the law criminalising corruption," she said.

"It will replace seven overlapping prevention of corruption acts, dating back to 1889."

Under existing legislation, suspected bribes can be seized and forfeited. But the new measures will allow the courts to order the forfeiture of assets, equal to the value of any bribe, given or received.

The measures also include what is described as an "innovative provision" outlawing intimidation with the intent of influencing a person to perform an act in relation to their job.

And it will also allow action to be taken against those involved in bribing, or attempting to bribe, public servants in other jurisdictions as part of overseas business negotiations.

The proposed measures were first approved by the Cabinet in 2012. But there were fears that it could have implications for the constitutional balance of power between the judiciary, the legislature and the electorate.

As a result, it was decided to refer the measures to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice for its observations and recommendations before the bill was sent for formal drafting.

The Criminal Justice (Corruption) Bill has now been given the go-ahead and drafting is in the final stages.

The legislation takes account of a number of recommendations, issued by the Mahon tribunal, which investigated scandals in the planning process. It concluded that corruption affected every level of Irish political life.

The tribunal found that corruption was both endemic and systemic, and its existence was widely known and tolerated.

Frank Dunlop was the star witness who detailed a massive web of corruption throughout planning and political circles while appearing as a witness at the Mahon Tribunal. Mr Dunlop named more than 25 politicians who he had made payments to in the 1990s while serving as a lobbyist for developers.

In 2009, Mr Dunlop pleaded guilty to five charges of corruption. The 66-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison, with the final six months suspended. He is the only person to have been convicted in the wake of the tribunal.

When it is enacted, the legislation will further meet Ireland's obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which was ratified in 2011 - as well as the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.

Irish Independent