The former Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland says it is 'totally inappropriate' that gardaí work in the GSOC offices.

Nuala O'Loan's been giving her reaction to the Cooke report which found this week that there was no evidence of surveillance at the Garda Ombudsman's office.

She says steps should be taken to improve the relationship between the watchdog and the force itself, including putting a proper division of responsibility in place between the Minister for Justice, An Garda Síochána and the force's Ombudsman.

The Garda Ombudsman says two superintendents currently work in the GSOC offices on secondment.

Ms O'Loan told Newstalk Breakfast she believes relationships and roles should be more concrete:

Earlier, the President of the GRA told the show the Ombudsman's office has not been balanced in the way it has operated. However, Dermot O'Brien stopped short of calling the relationship between officers and GSOC toxic. He said, instead, that his members have issues with procedure not being followed.

He also said the system is open to abuse by criminals who can make serial or vexatious complaints about gardaí, without fear of landing in court: