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Beleaguered Irish police chief resigns

Commissioner Martin Callinan faced criticism.

DUBLIN — Ireland’s police chief resigned Tuesday following months of criticism of how his force handled allegations of illegal wiretapping and corrupt enforcement of traffic laws.

Underscoring a growing sense of public unease at police standards and behavior, government leaders announced that they would open a judge-led probe into new revelations that telephone calls at many police stations had been illegally recorded since the 1980s.

In a statement, Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s Cabinet said the government would pursue an ‘‘extensive program of reform’’ to protect whistleblowers within the police force, make the police provide Freedom of Information Act disclosures, and create a new civilian oversight body for the police.

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It said a judge would be appointed to examine why police had secretly recorded telephone conversations in and out of many police stations for several years, a practice that ended only in November after the first wiretap scandal became public knowledge.

Hours before their move, Commissioner Martin Callinan surprised the government by announcing he would quit.

Some government ministers had called on Callinan, 60, to apologize for calling the actions of two police corruption whistleblowers ‘‘disgusting,’’ a comment made two months ago. He did not apologize.

Associated Press