Justice Minister tells GRA conference breath test scandal was 'failure of entire force'
The Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said rank-and-file Gardaí should not blame management for inflating breath test figures.
Almost a million breath tests have been wrongly recorded.
However, the Garda Representative Association, who are holding their annual conference in Galway, have said it is not their fault.
The Tánaiste told the GRA conference: "There can be no place for a culture of blame in An Garda Síochána. The challenges the organisation faces are too great for that kind of posturing.
"The recent fixed charge notice and alcohol breath test issues were failures. Failures of the entire organisation.
"The force must accept collective responsibility and collectively resolve to ensure something like that never happens again."
She said all levels in the force must move on.
Ms Fitzgerald said: "I strongly believe that every part of the organisation has a role to play moving forward.
"And also when things go wrong each part of an organisation has to examine their own role, that's just the reality of organisational life, and that's the reality of An Garda Siochána."
