The leadership of the Garda Representative Association has been summoned to meeting with the Garda Commissioner, over proposed comments at their annual conference.

A speech which accused the Government of being “corrupted by years of power” led to the Minister for Justice withdrawing from a planned appearance at the event in Limerick.

Minister Dermot Ahern has now called on the GRA to apologise to the people of Ireland for what he considered to be an attack on the institutions of the State.

Commissioner Facthna Murphy – who has been addressing new recruits in Templemore – says the political nature of the comments was unsupportable.

“Clearly I’m not going to say here publicly what my words will be” he said.

“But I think I’ve made it loud and clear since this happened last Tuesday that I don’t support any adverse commentary about politicians or anybody else”.

“Gratuitous comments about corruption has no place in the work of An Garda Siochana” he added.