media.transparency.org/imaps/cpi2009/
I know it’s only a perception index but according to this Ireland is one of the lowest in Western Europe. The Land of Saints and Scholars 
There is no problem with corruption in this country.
It’s endemic and has become the system itself.
You are absolutely right. We don’t perceive getting a friend to have a traffic ticket dropped or paying a salary to a Senator for unclear services as corrupt.
If we don’t think that it is corrupt then it is not on the index. At lease the Pakistanis know that something is wrong.
I believe this subject has been addressed better before. We have a low level of illegal corruption i.e. bribes but we have a very high level of legal corruption. The corruption is happening within the bounds of the law, albeit laws modified to facilitate this corruption e.g. all Ahearns “mates” on semi state and state boards.