The General Secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has described calls for an independent Garda Ombudsman as "shortsighted brainwaves" which the majority of law-abiding citizens do not want.
Speaking at the Association’s annual conference in Cork, Mr PJ Stone criticised Fine Gael and Labour for pledging to appoint an ombudsman to deal with complaints against the Garda in their election manifestos.
Mr Stone said: "If we are to believe and to be brainwashed into thinking that this is something that the vast majority of our citizens want, then we could be forgiven for thinking as members of the Force that we are our out of touch."
In any case, he said: "The majority of complaints to the Garda Complaints Board come from people who have a vested interest in terms of making sure that they can delay the implication of judicial practice by frustrating the system of complaints."
He said this was a time of "political lunacy" and politicians were "trying to be all things to all people and to plug every gap in order to get a media interview and possibly capture an illusive vote".
Rejecting recent criticism of the Force’s handling of a "Reclaim the Streets" march in Dublin in which 24 protesters were arrested, he said: "You cannot continue to inflict bruises on any organisation without devastating results at the end of the day."
"There is only so much scar tissue that can be stitched together in order to keep a person upright and the Garda Siochana, as an entity of the State, needs and deserves the support of Government," he said.
Mr Stone also criticised the Minister for Justice for saying he would not necessarily accept the Garda Commissioner’s report into the protests in Dublin.
He said if the Minister cannot accept the word of the Garda Commissioner on certain issues, he should remove him from office. He accused the Minister of pandering to media speculation and said he should know better.
He said: "It is clear that the Gardai will in future have to film such an event so that the full picture can be presented to TV stations afterwards."
Referring to recent allegations that the Garda may have withheld information relating to the Omagh bombing, Mr Stone criticised the Northern Ireland Ombudsman, Ms Nuala O’Loan, for thinking she had "some inherent power to deal with issues relating to the Garda Siochana".
"This is an independent office set up in the North of Ireland to deal with specific issues relating to the police service of Northern Ireland. Yet, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has met with the Ombudsman and discussed issues relating to the Omagh bombing. One must question how the independence of the Ombudsman’s office can be served in this context," he said.