The Garda Commissioner has said he is not going to tolerate gardaí who are not interested in doing their jobs.
Justin Kelly said he expected "an honest day's work for an honest day's pay" from members of the gardaí and would not stand over any case where people were not prepared to do that.
He said such behaviour as revealed in the Crowe Report, which found gardaí assigned to roads policing were not doing their jobs and had no interest in doing them, undermines trust in An Garda Síochána and "disrespects" the majority of gardaí who work hard.
He said they also had to look at those who managed these gardaí and needed to work on "performance management" because "what we have now is not working".
An implementation team established to look at the recommendations of the Crowe Report is due to report back to him.
Commissioner Kelly, who took over from Drew Harris as Garda Commissioner, outlined his priorities at his first press conference today.
He said he wanted to improve how gardaí engage with victims of crime, particularly victims of domestic violence, following two reports critical of the gardaí from Women's Aid and The Garda Síochána Inspectorate.
Commissioner Kelly said the gardaí needed to get engagement with the public right every time, whether by email, phone or people calling in to the stations.
"It is important we provide an effective, courteous service," he said.
"It is a real priority. It can be difficult for people to phone or call in to gardaí.
"We cannot put up barriers, this could be the only time a person deals with An Garda Síochána."
He said it is "devastating" when he hears of gardaí who have been involved in domestic violence and said while the crime "hits every single area and occupation", there was "no place for them in the organisation".
He said these gardaí are suspended, investigated and prosecuted and there has been substantial investigations and convictions where gardaí have been sent to jail.
Commissioner to increase number of gardaí on streets
Commissioner Kelly also said he wanted to put more gardaí on the streets and increase their visibility in both urban and rural areas to reassure the public and tackle anti-social behaviour.
He said a plan for Dublin under Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary was "working really well" and wanted to replicate that plan around the country.
He said additional gardaí will be found from new recruits coming from Templemore, 200 in the next graduation, and an examination of the balance between gardaí assigned to uniform patrols and the specialist units.
He also said he wanted to ensure that frontline gardaí have everything they need to carry out their duties and said he was keen to invest in uniform, vehicles, body cameras and other equipment to protect the gardaí and the public.
The Commissioner said they were considering providing tasers to frontline uniform gardaí.
Commissioner Kelly also said we were living in "very uncertain times in a volatile geopolitical environment".
He said "the ripples of which have reached our shores" and the threats to National Security were "not spoken about enough".
He said there were serious threats from "hostile state actors" and all forms of "political extremism that leads to violence on all sides".
He also pointed out that the threats from "religiously motivated radicalism have not gone away".
He said the Special Detective Unit was at "the vanguard" of tackling these threats and that the gardaí had "the expertise."
They were he said "building the capabilities and expertise with people, IT, equipment and outreach to other security services".
"We have a very detailed plan for national security and we are well advanced, with strong support from the Taoiseach and Minister for Justice," he said, regarding resourcing.
"We are not where we want to be yet but are well on the way. It is vital we have all capabilities to protect us from threats."
On the Operating Policing Model which has been criticised by gardaí of all ranks, from Superintendents to the rank and file, he said his view had always been to "get it finished, rolled out and take a pause".
He said they would now "look at what areas need improvement," because "without a doubt there are always things that need to change on a big project."
He said he would welcome the views of gardaí and where they see "the fixes" are needed.
Commissioner to 'reset relationships' with Garda associations
The Commissioner said he wanted to "reset relationships" with the Garda associations, the largest of which had voted no confidence in the previous commissioner.
He said he was attending the Chief Superintendents Conference tomorrow and meeting with the other associations, starting with the GRA next week.
He also reiterated that tackling Organised Crime was one of his key priorities and rejected claims that the pursuit of Daniel Kinahan and other key figures in the Kinahan Organised Crime Group had "gone cold."
The Commissioner pointed to the successes of the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and insisted they would be "relentless" in their pursuit of major criminals.
He acknowledged there were huge amounts of drugs, particularly cocaine, coming in to the country but said "there seems to be a complete disconnect between the users of cocaine and the damage they are doing here and abroad."
He said there were "vast tracts of the Amazon destroyed by cocaine production" and that on the one hand there were people here "concerned about their green bin and green car, but using cocaine, destroying the environment and enslaving people trafficked into the drugs trade in Columbia".
