The the Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan says he has no information or evidence of claims by the President of the GRA that new guidelines on crime categorisation have led to the "massaging" of statistics.

John Parker was speaking at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) annual conference in Co. Mayo, where 170 rank and file members have gathered to discuss cuts to pay and conditions as well as a reduction in resources.

Mr. Parker also described much of policing nowadays as a "PR exercise". The event will be addressed by the Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan this evening.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the event, Mr. Parker said morale in the force is at "rock bottom" because of cuts to resources.

"You turn up to the scene of a crime and [there is] a half-hearted effort because of the lack of facilities. It's a PR exercise, often where you go out and record the issues as much as you can, however, you move on and there is another crime being reported".

Mr. Parker said new guidelines came into force in a number of districts 2 years ago on re-categorising crime and they have become more widespread since then.

He said something that may have been classed as a burglary a few years ago may now be considered criminal damage.

"Former figures used to include attempted burglary in the burglary statistics. However, these days we often see where a window was broken and it's obvious there was entry gained but nothing was taken - a lot of these are put down as criminal damage. Crime categorisation itself is a skill and it's easy to massage statistics."

He also criticised the cutbacks saying they have left officers unable to do their job properly:

Speaking last night, John Parker also said that without a place at the negotiating table Gardai are left vulnerable: