Garda Representative Association (GRA) president Dermot O'Donnell has called for a Health and Safety Authority investigation into Saturday's riots in Dublin.
Gardai battle with a crowd on O'Connell Street
Mr O'Donnell claimed it was a miracle no one was killed as a result of the violence, which left large parts of the city unpoliced for a number of hours on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to RTÉradio this morning, he said many of his members claimed there simply were not enough officers there on the day.
"What our members have told me - those that were injured, in hospital, others that I've met that were on duty on the day . . . is there simply were not enough gardaí on the streets."
Mr O'Donnell also questioned whether there was risk assessment carried out and, if so, "why did it fail so badly?"
Referring to the May Day riots in which Mr O'Donnell said members were again left unprotected he said: "Our members are particularly angry since May 2002 when seven of our members found themselves, as a result of what was simply a management failure to police the event properly and have enough members on duty on that day, found themselves before the courts. Thankfully they were acquitted by juries of their peers, but they just feel it isn't good enough."
He said that on May Day 2004, two water cannons had been borrowed from the PSNI but that the Garda still did not have one of its own.
"It's regrettable, it's a symptom of the lack of investment and resourcing of An Garda Síochána that in almost two years we haven't bought one of our own. We currently don't have a water cannon available to us."