The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has given a qualified welcome to two reports calling for top-level reform of Garda management.
The reports - from the Garda Inspectorate and Garda Advisory Group - recommend changes including the appointment of civilians at all levels in the force. The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has also welcomed the recommendations and promised to implement them as quickly as possible.
"Implementation of these recommendations will assist the Garda to address some of the systemic management failures identified in the recent Morris Tribunal reports" said Mr Mark Kelly, ICCL director.
"However, further action will be needed to place these new managers in a position to manage the Garda Síochána. Managers, whether civilian or garda, must be able to hold their staff to account and, at present, the Garda does not have the structures in place to enable this to happen in an effective way."
"There is no need for the Garda Commissioner or the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice to wait for further direction from external advisory bodies before putting in place the management procedures that will be required to render the Garda a fully human rights compliant police service," he added.
Both reports recommended the employment of far more civilians at all levels in the force up to the level of deputy commissioner. An international recruitment drive to fill future vacancies at Garda commissioner level has also been mooted.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors welcomed the reports, saying the force was in need of thousands of additional civilian staff.
The Garda Representative Association said the proposals were "long overdue". The Association of Garda Superintendents also welcomed the proposals to recruit much greater civilian support and expertise.
The inspectorate report says that the structure of the Garda force was 20 years out of date as it had not moved decisively in the direction of civilianising senior management positions like police forces in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.