Over 1,000 gardaí backed calls for a policy of non-co-operation with the proposed reserve force at a protest meeting in Sligo.
The leadership of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) challenged Minister for Justice Mr McDowell to explain how this would involve breaking the law.
Speaking as gardaí from throughout Connacht and Ulster gathered at the Sligo Park Hotel to voice their opposition to the reserve force, general secretary of the GRA PJ Stone said: "I do not see the point in involving myself in negotiations when the Minister has already decided the issue.
"The consultation process should have started a long long time ago." Joe Dirwan, president of the AGSI accused the Minister of undermining the profession and trying to set up a "second rate police force" and called on Mr McDowell to outline what law members would be breaking if they refuse to co-operate with the reserve force.
"In fact if the Minister goes ahead with his proposals he will be in breach of the health and safety laws," added Mr Dirwan.
GRA president Dermot O'Donnell warned the Minister: "The fight starts here and it is a fight we intend to win."
He described the proposal as a "gross insult" to a force which he said was in crisis due to being starved of personnel and resources.
Claiming that gardaí were being forced to work in stations "not fit for human habitation" and that officers were placed in danger because of faulty radio systems and lack of protective clothing. Mr O'Donnell said many disillusioned members see no future for themselves within the force. "The €12 million which the Minister plans to plough into the second rate police force would be manna from heaven if it were used to update decaying stations and to supply members with the tools they desperately need to do their job more effectively," he said.
They were dismissive of the detailed proposals from the Minister, pointing out that members of the reserve force would need only 56 hours of training to exercise powers of arrest.
One speaker at the meeting said that Minister was attempting to "hoodwink" the public. A local delegate said that the roof was falling in at Easkey Garda station in Co Sligo, which had been condemned seven years ago.
He said that while a farmer could be prosecuted for having 200 animals in a house designed to accommodate 60, there were now 200 gardaí at Wexford station which was designed to accommodate 60 or 70 members.