Representatives of rank and file gardaí have expressed concern after a number of video images appeared on the YouTube internet website purporting to show individuals assaulting gardaí and damaging Garda vehicles.
Two of the videos, posted in the last eight weeks, include footage of an unidentified male who appears to hit a garda in Longford, and another incident where a Garda car is kicked by a group of youths.
In separate footage posted within the past year, a garda is seen being hit with a bottle thrown from a supporters' stand in Croke Park, while in another instance a young man appears to urinate on a Garda car.
Elsewhere, a man is also seen pushing what appear to be two members of the force into a lake before running away.
The videos, which each last less than 60 seconds, come amid concern about the emergence of so-called "happy slapping" incidents here.
"Happy slapping" refers to occasions where an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault, usually with a digital camera or camera phone. It remains unclear whether the recording of the Garda footage was pre-planned or was undertaken in response to actual events.
However, Garda Representative Association (GRA) general secretary PJ Stone said he would be concerned about any trend whereby people are assaulting gardaí and/or Garda property in order to place this on websites such as YouTube.
It was important that members of An Garda Síochána, as is the case with others in society, are seen to be able to "take a joke".
But he believed consideration should be given to the introduction of legislation to stop images being posted online which showed what appears to be criminal behaviour such as assault.
"I hope it doesn't create a situation whereby people are having a go at An Garda Síochána for some sort of hilarity or fun," said Mr Stone. "Where it can be shown that someone is now using such footage for the purposes of egging on an assault, then they are as culpable in my view.
"The vast majority of people who we serve are not into that sort of behaviour. It is a small minority of people . . . but I think legislation should be considered.There is a necessity for some sort of standards."
A spokesman for YouTube yesterday declined to say whether it intended to remove the videos in question. He said the website does not comment on individual videos.
"The YouTube community effectively polices the site for inappropriate material. The users can flag content that they feel is inappropriate and once it is flagged it is reviewed by our staff and removed from the system within minutes if it violates our community guidelines."