The Director of Public Prosecutions is persecuting gardai who make mistakes on duty, it was claimed today.
The Garda Representative Association, which represents 9,500 rank-and-file gardai, said its members were being prosecuted even if there was no strong evidence against them.
"It is a view of a large number of my members that if a file reaches the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) office, invariably what it will lead to is a prosecution and that is a desperate strain to have members of An Garda Siochana operating under," said general secretary PJ Stone.
Seven gardai were charged in connection with assaulting protestors at the Reclaim the Street protest in Dublin on May Day 2002.
"With the exception of one minor conviction, all the rest of the cases were dismissed. One member had to defend himself twice," said Mr Stone.
An independent review of Garda operations on May Day was ordered by Commissioner Noel Conroy, but its results have not been published.
Mr Stone said another garda had been charged with dangerous driving while on duty but that the case had been dismissed by a judge within five minutes.
"If other citizens had the same results, people would be asking questions as to why those cases were brought in the first place," he said.
The DPP's office is totally independent and rarely gives reasons for decisions to prosecute or not to prosecute.
Mr Stone said the DPP should carry out an evaluation of his policies immediately.
"We do not expect members of An Garda Siochana who deliberately break the law to be treated any differently than any other citizen, but we have to get a balance here where members doing their duty are not persecuted and prosecuted as is the case at present."
However, Justice Minister Michael McDowell rejected the GRA's claim that gardai were being persecuted by the DPP.
"I think it would be wrong of any group, particularly a group involved in the criminal justice system, to imply that the DPP behaves unfairly towards any group," he said.
He added: "He's an independent person, he's a high officer of state and I don't accept the proposition that he acts unfairly or that he pursues a different policy in relation to gardai."
A spokeswoman for the DPP's office said they would not be commenting on Mr Stone's comments.
PA