The Garda Síochána has said it is "disappointed" by remarks by Prof Niamh Brennan that she would be reluctant to report an attack on a member of her family to the gardaí. She is married to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.
Prof Brennan's comments, published yesterday, followed the leaking to newspapers earlier this year of details of an assault in April on the couple's teenage son, Hugh.
Referring to the incident, Prof Brennan was quoted as saying: "If it happened again, I have to say I would be reluctant to get the guards involved. If I was attacked tomorrow, for example, I would be very reluctant to go to the guards because I know my name would go in the paper."
Responding to the criticism as he attended the opening of the second West Link bridge in the company of the Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, yesterday, Supt John Farrelly of the Garda press office said: "We are disappointed that anybody would say that they would be reluctant to contact the gardaí in relation to a crime."
He said gardaí were frequently privy to sensitive information. If sometimes information found its way into the media, the gardaí could not simply take action without cause or evidence.
Mr McDowell declined to comment on his wife's remarks, made in an interview with the Sunday Times. Contacted by The Irish Times last night, Prof Brennan said that she was very busy and not available to speak to the newspaper.
In her interview with the Sunday Times, she said: "I always told my son that, if there was ever trouble like that, to just walk away. The four thugs who hit Hugh were walking behind him and then, even when one of them hit him in the face, he still walked away."
"The guards did not give out the names of the four boys who behaved badly. They did, however, give out our son's name. We were probably naïve at the time."
However, her comments have led to opposition parties questioning the motives for Mr McDowell's proposed legislation to jail gardaí who provide unauthorised information to the media and other third parties.
Mr Joe Costello, Labour's justice spokesman, said Ms Brennan's comments were "an effective vote of no confidence in the force". While he had "considerable sympathy for Prof Brennan and her family" over the attack and leaking of details, there was "no justification for the Government plan to introduce a totally draconian measure".
Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr John Deasy, said he believed the legislation was personally driven.