Former chief superintendent Martin Crotty said McVerry had ignored the suffering of children who were abused by Catholic priests while criticising the gardai over the force's treatment of young people from poor areas in Dublin.

Crotty was responding to claims by McVerry that youths from the inner-city had been 'shown no respect' by gardai and that this was a factor in the occurence of riots during the Love Ulster march in Dublin. McVerry has spoken on numerous occasions about alleged garda brutality against young men from disadvantaged areas of Dublin, including homeless young men.

However, Crotty hit back strongly at the priest's statement on the riots, accusing McVerry of failing to express the same level of condemnation and criticism for the church in relation to the findings of the Ferns Inquiry.

Writing in the latest edition of Garda Review, the magazine of the Garda Representation Association (GRA), Crotty also attacks sections of the media, noting that the homeless activist ?always gets an easy ride on certain talk shows".

Crotty dismissed McVerry's claims that the riots were inspired by ill-feeling among young inner-city men towards the gardai. ?McVerry courted cheap publicity with this absurd theory. . .

which does not explain why foreign nationals were dragged from shops and attacked and pregnant women and old age pensioners were assaulted by cowardly thugs, " Crotty said. ?Whether Fr McVerry likes it or not, the gardai are duty-bound to enforce the law, which may involve arresting some who live in the communities he is involved with".

Speaking to theSunday Tribune yesterday, McVerry defended his criticism of the force. ?I am aware of an enormous amount of alienation among young men from less advantaged parts of the city towards the gardai. It was a reasonable hypothesis to make that this could be a factor in some of the reaction that occurred during the march."

?It is true that I have never mentioned the Ferns report. I have been working with young people and my comments in relation to the gardai are drawn from decades of experience in this area. I have no particular experience in terms of the subject of abuse but that does not mean that I am not utterly appalled at the abuse of young kids by clergy or of the handling of the issue by the church, " he said.