THE organisation representing rank and file Gardai has accused the Government of failing to protect them following the death of Garda Robbie McCallion.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has called for the law to be changed to protect gardaí.
It follows yet more incidents where guards have been hurt on duty.
Garda Robbie McCallion died in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on April 7, 2009 a few days after he was struck by a car thief while on duty in Letterkenny.
The driver of the stolen car, Jamie McGrenaghan (19) from Kerrykeel, was charged with his manslaughter but after a three day trial, the jury took two hours to find him not guilty.
He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of 29-year-old Garda McCallion and also stealing a car.
Following the not guilty verdict, thug McGrenaghan pleaded guilty to his involvement in a number of burglaries between February 26 and 27.
In a statement, GRA President Damien McCarthy has said that “there appears to be a political reluctance to properly protect frontline gardaí from assaults” now rising above 800 every year.
Mr McCarthy said the death of Garda McCallion had still not been addressed by the Government which had failed to protect gardai.
The GRA man said that “successive Ministers for Justice have failed to implement legislation to protect emergency workers. We believe a mandatory sentence would deter a large proportion of potential assailants.”
He added that “an assault on a garda is a direct attack on our democratic community.”
