Gardaí have used private email accounts to send and receive messages relating to their work, and the force has no record of these correspondences, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

A Garda finding that their public order operation at the Jobstown water charge protest in November 2014 was a success was described as “an extraordinary conclusion” at the Policing Authority yesterday.

The senior leadership of An Garda Síochána meets this morning for what has been described as a crucial bid to “steady the ship”.