The Garda Siochana was criticised by anti-agreement unionists yesterday during a five-hour debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly on proposed reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Proposing a DUP motion calling on the Northern Secretary to reject the Patten report on policing, which later passed the chamber by 50 votes to 42, Mr Nigel Dodds, Minister for Social Development, said if the RUC was forced to change its badge the Garda should do likewise.
He stressed that Protestants were under-represented in the Republic's force and agreed with his party leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, who claimed senior appointments in the Garda Siochana were "political".
"You only have to read some of the recent history of Irish political life, particularly during the years of the Haughey administration, to see the extent of the political interference with senior members of the Garda. People were transferred from one police station to another at the behest of their political masters for political reasons," Mr Dodds said.
The SDLP's spokesman on policing, Mr Alex Attwood (West Belfast), argued that policing was not a contentious issue in the South, which meant it did not need to be addressed.
Later Mr Alban Maginness, (SDLP, North Belfast), said it was useful to examine the origins of the Garda Siochana because it had successfully established itself as a legitimate force after a civil war.
Quoting the first Garda Commissioner in the 1920s, Michael Staines, Mr Maginness said he hoped the new force would one day also be able serve the people "not by force of arms, or numbers, but on their moral authority as servants of the people".
The leader of the Alliance Party, Mr Sean Neeson (East Antrim), proposed an amendment stating the report offered the chance for a new beginning, which was later defeated by 65 to 28 in a recorded vote, with the Alliance criticising Sinn Fein for voting against it.
Mr Neeson called on the paramilitaries to start giving up weapons immediately: "I'm a bit tired of the arrogance of republicans". He also criticised the "begrudgery" of the GAA for delaying the deletion of Rule 21.
He condemned the "total hypocrisy and double standards" of the DUP, "whose support for the police over the last 30 years has been conditional".
Mr Tom Benson (UUP, Strangford), who served in the RUC for 30 years, described the government's proposal to change the name of the force as an insult to the memory of the 302 officers killed during the Troubles.
Ms Mary Nelis (Sinn Fein, Foyle), said the RUC was unacceptable to nationalists and had "prolonged the conflict and posed the greatest threat to continued peace". Mr Paddy Roche, of the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (Lagan Valley), accused Sinn Fein and the SDLP of the "demonisation" of the RUC. He described the SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, as a "vociferous anti-RUC propagandist" and called for the resignation of the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, over the policing issue.
Ms Monica McWilliams (Women's Coalition, South Belfast) said she believed the Patten report had the capacity to create a new future for policing but the proposals must address the under-representation of women in the force.
Mr Robert McCartney (UKUP, North Down) said it was ironic that the Ulster Unionists had "now transformed themselves into the defenders of the RUC having provided the means for their reform by signing the Belfast Agreement". He also accused loyalists of giving the IRA the excuse not to decommission by refusing to give up their own arms.