The president of the Garda Representative Association said last night he was "absolutely disgusted" by the manslaughter charges in the McCabe case.
"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jerry McCabe was murdered and an attempt was made to murder Ben O'Sullivan and if a piece of car hadn't got in the way, he would be dead as well," Mr John Healy said.
A senior Garda source said there was concern that the decision would set a serious precedent for murder cases. "All the ingredients of a murder were present," the source said. "If your action is so reckless or if you go with the means to commit a murder, the law is well settled on that point. So the real question is, how far has the criminal law been contaminated by this decision?"
Mr Healy said he believed his views "would reflect the views of the majority of the force."
However, the GRA acting general secretary, Mr P.J. Stone, agreed in a lunchtime interview with RTE Radio the decision had been a "good result for the force".
Mr Stone, who had been in the Special Criminal Court when the decision was announced, began by praising the gardai involved in the investigation. "One thing I'm happy about this morning is that the investigation by the gardai in Limerick has proved that the people in the dock were culpable," he said. Later yesterday, Mr Stone said he would have preferred if the men were tried and convicted on a murder charge, "but today people have pleaded guilty to this crime". He said members of the GRA were "incensed and extremely concerned that they see the position of members of the Garda Siochana being eroded". But, he said, up to recently the defendants were pleading not guilty to possession of weapons and "now they've held up their hands and said they did it".
Mr Stone added: "It must have been heartening for Ben O'Sullivan to be standing in that court today and see people standing up and saying they're responsible for almost murdering him." The hardening of the GRA position followed dozens of phone calls from gardai and members of the public reacting to the decision.
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors did not issue any statement following the decision, but is believed to have received a large volume of calls.
"It raises the question of whether we should be in line with almost every other force in Europe by being armed," Mr Healy said. "Because it does not appear that the legislation and judicial system are providing protection to gardai."
A former justice minister, Mr Michael Noonan, said the decision "does violence to the concept of manslaughter". He said a number of Limerick gardai had contacted him to express their anger. "If there wasn't an intent to kill, no evidence came forward on behalf of the accused to that effect," he said.
A former Labour justice spokesman, Mr Pat Upton, said: "If the Attorney General was involved in this then I think the public really has to be told."
The GRA Limerick representative, Garda Paul Brown, said he believed Det Garda McCabe's widow, Ann, "knowing her so well and how she has suffered", would be devastated by the turn of events. However, he said he had not spoken to her about her reaction.
Mrs McCabe was in court with family members yesterday, but she did not make any comment. Det Garda O'Sullivan said he would not comment until the case had been concluded.
Garda Brown said the GRA accepted that the law must take its course and if the court made a decision that was accepted by the association.
"Our hearts also go out to Garda Ben O'Sullivan and his family at this time," he said.
