The Garda Inspectorate has found there are significant gaps in the supervision of frontline gardaí.
A report on frontline supervision also found that many young, inexperienced gardaí in many parts of the country are not being properly supervised.
The Inspectorate found that many garda sergeants are performing cumbersome administrative duties and more need to be deployed on patrol and on street duty.
The report has been with Minister for Justice Alan Shatter since last April, but was only published today.
Mr Shatter said it was decided to wait until the Garda Commissioner had given detailed consideration to the report and a new Inspectorate team was appointed.
In a statement, Mr Shatter said the Garda Commissioner has commenced a review of the roles across the force to ensure the proper deployment of all officers.
The Inspectorate also found the supervision of the detention prisoners to be inadequate and that in certain cases this was being done by very junior gardaí.
The Inspector's report highlighted deficiencies in the deployment of sergeants, as well as unnecessary bureaucracy and the significant time required for court attendance as impediments to frontline supervision.
Court attendance accounts for 25% of the garda overtime budget.
The report says the gardaí should work with the Courts Service and the DPP to design a more efficient and effective system for attendance.
It was, the report said, unacceptable that sergeants who should patrol with frontline gardaí they are supervising were seldom available to do so because of unnecessary time-consuming bureaucracy.
The Inspectorate said there was a fundamental problem in the gardaí's accountability systems and processes that affect frontline supervision for an organisation with a budget of over €1.3bn and 15,000 sworn and unsworn personnel.
It pointed out that when senior managers were asked how many members were on duty in their division, district, region or in the organisation, the question could not be readily answered.
It said there were clear gaps and deficiencies in systems for personnel logging on and off duty.
The report also pointed out that while parades and briefings took place, they did not occur before every tour of duty and no formal equipment or uniform inspections were evident.
There was also little evidence that frontline personnel were briefed effectively and no evidence of detective briefings.
