The Garda and unions representing members of the force have rejected serious allegations made in last night's Prime Timedocumentary that some gardai physically abused members of the public taken into custody.
A Garda statement said: "A former eminent judge states that members of An Garda Síochána have committed perjury in his court over the years. This is an extremely serious allegation and of concern to the Commissioner."
The statement went on to say that Garda was "very concerned that discipline within the ranks of this organisation would be portrayed as having broken down and we categorically refute these assertions".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Irelandprogramme this morning, Supt John Farrelly of the Garda press office said there was a presumption of innocence in all cases, including cases involving gardaí, until an individual was found guilty of an offence.
He expressed concern about the highlighting of a number of cases in the Primetime documentary, including that of 18-year-old Mr Michael Gaffney who alleged he was beaten by gardaí. Supt Farrelly said the Gaffney case had been fully investigated by the Garda Complaints Board and a file forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
No disciplinary action had been taken against any garda as a result of the investigation and no prosecution was taken, he said.
Mr Gaffney's case was highlighted by the junior minister and TD for Wicklow, Mr Dick Roche. Mr Roche alleged the treatment of Mr Gaffney by certain gardai was tantamount to torture.
Also speaking on Morning Ireland, Mr P. J. Stone of the Garda Representative Association said last night's documentary had been neither balanced nor fair and that its agenda was to damage the good name of the gardai. He said a recent survey had shown 89 per cent of the public had confidence in the Garda.
Mr Stone said 25 gardai had been summarily dismissed from the force over the past number of years and he challenged any organ of State to show a similar record in cases of misbehaviour.
He said he rejected totally that discipline had broken down in the force. However, he accepted that from time to time there would be members whould would "go beyond" what was "expected" of members of the Garda. The GRA did not condone such behaviour and did not want those people within the ranks of the force, Mr Stone said.
He added that Prime Timehad been given full access to the Garda college at Templemore during the making of the programme. The documentary had failed to show interviews carried out with young trainees about their aspirations for the careers and had also failed to show footage of gardai being awarded Scott medals for bravery. Mr Stone said the behaviour of 99 per cent of gardai was "exemplary".
Mr Gordon Holmes, chairman of the Garda Complaints Board, said he thought public confidence in the board had diminished over the years but he believed much had been done to restore confidence following the way in which the board dealt with complaints arising from the Reclaim the Streets demonstration of May 2002. He recognised there was public disquiet at many of the shortcomings of the powers of the board.
Mr Holmes said the law only allowed the board to conduct its own investigation into matters of public concern. The board had no way and no ability to carry out its own investigation into private matters, which he acknowledged were very serious for the individuals concerned.
The complaints board chairman said he was not satisfied that some of the cases detailed in last night's programme were reported to the board.