Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy unveiled a memorial to all gardaí who lost their lives in the line of duty since the creation of the force in 1922, when it was known as the Civic Guards.
Mr Conroy unveiled the plaque yesterday at St Mary's Garden of Remembrance, St Mary's Church, Thurles, Co Tipperary.
He said that because the Garda college was at Templemore, Co Tipperary, people from the county had a strong tradition in An Garda Síochána and it was fitting that the new memorial was there. "It will be a place where the families, loved ones and friends of gardaí who have lost their lives can come and visit," he told the 200 people present at yesterday's ceremony.
Among the crowd were serving and former gardaí, members of the Defence Forces, Protestant and Catholic clergy and the family members of some gardaí who had died on duty.
The garden of remembrance, which officially opened in November 2000, has a number of memorials to members of the Defence Forces who lost their lives while serving on peacekeeping missions abroad.
Memorials are also dedicated to Tipperary men who lost their lives in the War of Independence and the first and second World Wars. When asked about criticisms of the Garda contained in the Ferns report, Mr Conroy said he and his senior colleagues would be studying the report in coming weeks with a view to determining how best to implement its recommendations.
However, many shortcomings identified in the report had arisen during investigations which dated back several decades in some cases. Much progress had been made since then regarding investigative techniques and more modern legislation.
New computer databases also enabled gardaí to quickly identify crime patterns or suspects against whom repeated allegations were made.