The Garda Ombudsman has said it is "probable" that information about the arrest of TD Clare Daly was wrongly leaked from within the gardaí.

However, GSOC said it has not been able to find enough evidence of a criminal offence to warrant sending a file to the DPP.

Deputy Daly was arrested in January 2013 on suspicion of drink-driving, but was later found to have been under the limit.

GSOC said the TD "was entitled to the presumption of innocence and that she had a right to privacy", which was infringed by the leaking of her arrest to the media.

In a statement, the garda watchdog said: "While it is not possible to state that this information was released by a particular garda or any other identifiable person, there does appear to be sufficient evidence to state, on the balance of probabilities, that some of the detail relating to Deputy Daly’s arrest emanated from within the Garda Síochána organisation and were made available to the media in an unauthorised manner."

Deputy Daly has welcomed the findings.

The independent TD believes the information was leaked after she publicly questioned the workings of the Garda Penalty points system.

"I have no doubt that the leaking was done to damage me, to intimidate me, and to detract from the work we were doing at that time," she said.