The Fine Gael TD, Mr Jim Mitchell, a former Minister for Justice, has called for "a big shake-up in the way the Garda Siochana is run".
He said the Garda had a proud record, but that should not put it above criticism. "I haven't seen any hard evidence of systematic corruption in the gardai, but both I and many other public representatives have felt that in recent years there is an awful lot of lethargy and lack of dynamism in the force.
Mr Mitchell, who is retiring from the Dail at the next election, was responding to criticism by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors of similar comments he had made on RTE's Prime Time on Monday evening.
AGSI president Mr John Durcan said Mr Mitchell's use of the words "lethargic" and "incestuous" on that programme were "completely unacceptable and show Mr Mitchell's contempt for the gardai - in fact I feel that Mr Mitchell should resign from the Dail".
He said: "It is not the gardai who are lethargic but the various governments down the years, including this one, which failed to act on warnings and advice they were receiving constantly from all the bodies representing gardai of all ranks. In fact it is only since the tragic death of Veronica Guerin that we have seen any substantial movement from the legislators who were shaken from their lethargy by the brutal killing."
Mr Mitchell's aid yesterday that he would like to see a few outsiders from the private sector and overseas police forces appointed to the Garda, perhaps at assistant commissioner level, to bring some new ideas and methods to the force.
He again proposed the establishment of a metropolitan Garda reserve in Dublin, along the same lines as some British cities. This would be made up of part-timers who could take over from full-time gardai such duties as policing big sports events, serving summonses and collecting fines, staffing Garda communications and organising Neighbourhood Watch.
Mr Mitchell also said he would like to see "kiosks" set up around Dublin so that people did not have to go to one of the widely-scattered main Garda stations for assistance.