The establishment of the proposed Garda Inspectorate, announced by the Minister for Justice today, is a "knee-jerk" reaction to the Morris tribunal report that lacks any real substance, Fine Gael has said.
Justice spokesman, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, said the inspectorate may actually give rise to organisational problems in the future because of the degree of overlap between the inspectorate and the Garda Ombudsman.
"Try as he might, Minister McDowell has failed to make the case for the establishment of a Garda inspectorate.
Mr Joe Costello. Labour Party justice spokesman
"For example, both will have the power to investigate, make swoops on Garda stations and demand to examine Garda files," Mr O'Keeffe said.
"What the minister is proposing are effectively audit teams and I see no reason why they could not form part of a discrete unit within the planned Ombudsman Commission as suggested by Fine Gael previously."
Mr O'Keeffe said his colleague, Senator Sheila Terry, had asked during the Second Stage of the Garda Bill that the functions of the Ombudsman Commission be broadened so as to allow it to look more generally at policing policies and practice.
"I can see no reason why the minister cannot simply adopt this proposal in the context of the Ombudsman Commission instead of introducing another level of bureaucracy."
Mr O'Keeffe said the idea seemed to be ill thought-out and hasty.
"I question whether Minister McDowell's latest brainwave has even received Cabinet approval."
The Labour Party's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello said the minister had produced "no convincing evidence" to back up his decision to establish a Garda inspectorate separate from the proposed Ombudsman.
He claimed the move appeared to be "part of a determined effort by the minister and his department to retain overall ministerial control over the Garda and to limit the scope of any genuinely independent supervision of the force".
"Details of what the minister has in mind are remarkably sketchy - only a single paragraph out of a lengthy speech - and it is not entirely clear what role and function the inspectorate would have," he said.
"The Labour Party fully supports the principle that the gardai should be subject to independent supervision and monitoring in order to ensure best policing practice, but it is our strong view that these functions should be carried out by a body independent of the gardaí and of the minister."
Mr Costello said the logical approach would be to give these functions to the Ombudsman, which would put the State "broadly in line with the practice in Northern Ireland".
Green Party Justice spokesperson Mr Ciarán Cuffe echoed the concern about the inspectorate's independence.
"It would be more appropriate to vest such powers with the proposed Ombudsman Commission. This could help ensure that it is not subject to the political influence of the Minister of the day."