The father of a garda who was beaten up and stabbed as he attempted to arrest a man in Dublin at the weekend has said some people "have lost all respect for the gardaí".
Brian Cox was speaking as his son Eoin (35) was recovering from the assault which has left him with concussion and a suspected shoulder fracture.
Garda Cox was beaten around the head and doctors think he was also stabbed in the leg with either a knife or a screwdriver.
He was attacked as he tried to arrest a man in Ballinteer, south Dublin, at about 6am on Sunday. He was trying to handcuff him outside a house when up to six other men came out of a downstairs window and began to assault him.
Garda Cox was in his uniform and clearly identifiable as an officer on duty.
His father, Brian, said: “If Eoin’s colleagues had not arrived so quickly and intervened we dread to think what injuries he would have sustained.”
Two men, aged 18 and 20, were arrested and are due before Dún Laoghaire District Court next month.