The former Garda commissioner, Mr Patrick McLaughlin, who has died aged 83, resigned in 1983 after the tapping of the telephones of two journalists.
Mr McLaughlin spent 40 years in the force. He earned a reputation for thoroughness, skilful detective work and scrupulously fair administration of justice.
He took over as commissioner in January 1978 at a time of serious structural problems and low morale in the Garda.
A popular choice, he made good progress with the Garda representative bodies and pressed for reform within the force.
However, he considered his freedom of movement was restricted by the Department of Justice under the then Fianna Fáil government.
When Fianna Fáil was voted out of office, the new justice minister, Mr Michael Noonan, ordered an inquiry in December 1982 into the tapping of telephones.
The government confirmed the telephones of journalists Ms Geraldine Kennedy - now Editor of The Irish Times - and Mr Bruce Arnold were officially tapped while Mr Seán Doherty was justice minister in Mr Charles Haughey's administration. Mr Doherty signed warrants authorising the tapping. Prior to the warrants being signed, Mr McLaughlin made a recommendation approving them.
Mr McLaughlin and deputy commissioner, Mr Joe Ainsworth, resigned in February 1983.
The government of the time said it greatly regretted that both men had got caught up in the affair. Mr Noonan said the officers were not forced to retire. Mr McLaughlin was over 60 and eligible to retire and would retain his pension.
The Garda Review at the time said: "It is a matter of special sadness in Mr McLaughlin's case as his retirement is an honourable acceptance by him that, as head of the force, the buck stops with him and that he must take responsibility when things go wrong."
After his resignation Mr McLaughlin said in a newspaper interview he had been the victim of the politicisation of the Garda and had retired only because political pressure was placed on him to do so.
He defended the use of telephone tapping in cases where people were neither criminals nor subversives as a normal part of intelligence gathering.
He also called for a full judicial inquiry into political interference in the force during the previous 12 years.
Mr McLaughlin had taken over as commissioner with views on criminal law which he expressed publicly as assistant commissioner.
This was a break with traditional practice.
In 1974, he delivered an address to the TCD Law Society urging changes in the law of evidence, including abolition of the traditional caution given to a suspect and the removal of a defendant's right to remain silent.
In January 1978 he criticised the rules of evidence, saying they and court procedures were making the solving of crime practically impossible. In 1980 two gardaí were shot dead during with an armed robbery in Roscommon. This resulted in the drawing up of a crime plan to overhaul the force.
A native of Malin, Co Donegal, he was born in 1921 and educated at St Eunan's College, Letterkenny. He joined the force in 1943, and was rapidly promoted through the ranks. He was in charge of the technical bureau between 1961 and 1967 and led most of the major murder and other investigations during that period.
Mr McLaughlin is survived by his wife Millie, and children Martin, Regina, Eunan and Gerard.