CEO of the representative body, John Whelan, spoke to the Sunday Tribune about an OECD working group report that criticised Ireland's lack of commitment to anti-bribery measures.

"The scenario is that when you get into some parts of the world like Asia, there are extensive requests for funds for doing business, essentially backhanders, " he said.

He admitted that foreign business agents could be passing on Irish money in the form of bribes."You just cannot get business done without the local contacts and connections so most Irish companies would pay a local agent. You never know if they are passing this money on to foreign officials and if they are is it bribery or corruption? It's a fine line, " he said.

Ten per cent of Ireland's exports go to Asia and the Middle East and are worth around 8bn a year to the economy.

The OECD working group on bribery last Friday accused the Irish state of a "total absence" of efforts to combat foreign bribery in a report.

Whelan said their main concern was dealing with legislation and that bribery is "not a major issue".

"By and large Irish exporters do not like to enter into the area of payments for services. It's not part of our culture. We'd be more likely to bring these people out for a drink. There hasn't been a case here for over two decades, " he said.

Among the recommendations made by the OECD were for legislation to expand on corporate liability for foreign bribery and to clarify this for companies. They also wanted to "ensure that Irish citizens and corporations can always be effectively prosecuted for foreign bribery offences committed outside Ireland."

Justice minister Michael McDowell responded to the OECD criticism by saying he has received government approval for a Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill that will "address the recommendations made for legislative change made by the [OECD] report".