Civilian experts should make up a “good portion” of a new garda management team, the head of the Policing Commission has said.

Policing commission chairwoman Kathleen O’Toole has ruled herself out of consideration for the garda commissioner job.

The Tánaiste is “very disturbed” that Fianna Fáil would sack Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan immediately if the party gains power, dubbing it “profoundly undemocratic”.

Allegations of phone-tapping for political reasons relate back to the early 2000s and are “not relevant to the current period” Enda kenny has told the Dáil.

There can be little doubting the credentials of many of those on the new policing commission.

The new policing commission must be “wholly independent” of the Government and should examine the Garda’s relationship with the Department of Justice, a leading policing expert has said.

The new ‘root and branch’ review will review similar issues over and over again but its success will not be judged on the production of another report but the implementation of its recommendations, says Cormac O’Keeffe.

The overall objective of the Government’s policing commission should be to establish “why the Garda seems so prone to corruption, neglect, and inefficiency”, a leading expert has said.