Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan 'should consider her position'

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan is under pressure over revelations about the police force

The leader of the Republic of Ireland's Fianna Fáil party has said Garda (police) commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan should consider her position.

It has emerged that almost one million drink-driving tests recorded by police in the Republic of Ireland did not actually take place.

Senior officers have admitted many of them were likely made up.

In addition, they have admitted a separate error that caused almost 15,000 wrongful traffic convictions.

Speaking on Irish broadcaster RTÉ's This Week, Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin said his party cannot express confidence in Commissioner O'Sullivan, but did not want to embroil the Dáil (parliament) in the controversy.

Mr Martin said he wants a clear statement from the commissioner to explain why the Policing Authority was not told about the controversy until recently.

'Seriously undermined'

"We can no longer articulate confidence in the Garda commissioner or indeed at this particular point in time in the administration of justice, until we get absolute clarity in plain language as to what happened here," Mr Martin said.

He added that there needed to be a "radical change in terms of how policing is managed in this country" as the credibility of the Garda had been "seriously undermined by these revelations".

Earlier, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said there is nothing to suggest the commissioner is implicated in the latest revelations about the force.

Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, the minister said the commissioner deserves support and nothing would be served by delivering a head on a plate.

On Saturday, the commissioner said the revelations were "totally unacceptable and not in keeping with the standards of a modern and professional police service".

Commissioner O'Sullivan was already facing questions over her leadership because of allegations of a smear campaign against a whistleblower, Sgt Maurice McCabe.

Sgt McCabe was one of two officers who raised concerns years ago about the alleged deletion of penalty points from the driving licences of well-connected offenders.