The judiciary has been described today as a "privileged elite, answerable to no-one" by the president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), Mr Michael Kirby.
Speaking at the GRA's annual conference in Bundoran, Mr Kirby said a minority of judges seemed to delight in humiliating gardaí in full view of criminals at court hearings.
He also called on the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, to issue unarmed gardaí with anti-stab vests or non-lethal defensive weapons to deal with violent confrontation. He said 1,000 gardaí, or 9 per cent of the force, were attacked each year during their duties. Of these, 150 had to hospitalised.
Mr Kirby said if the May Day protests descended into riots it would be rank-and-file gardaí, and not garda management, who would held accountable.
The three-day conference in Bundoran, Co Donegal, will also hear that the Garda's radio communications system is on the verge of collapse, is not secure and cannot be accessed in parts of the country.
Most members have abandoned the system in favour of their mobile phones, which they pay for themselves.