Some people have lost all respect for gardai - stabbed officer's dad

Brian Cox was speaking as his son Eoin (35) was recovering from the assault which has left him with a suspected fracture of his shoulder and concussion.

Garda Cox has been discharged from hospital but it is not known when he will be well enough to return to work at Dundrum Garda Station.

He was beaten around his head and doctors think he was also stabbed in the leg with either a knife or a screwdriver.

His family confirmed that he was attacked as he tried to arrest a man in the Hillview housing estate in Ballinteer, Co Dublin, around 6am on Sunday after gardai were investigating the theft of a car.

Chased

Gda Cox and his partner spotted the car, a Kia, and went to stop it when it stopped and the men inside ran off.

Gda Cox chased one of them into the housing estate.

The man ran up to a house and just as Gda Cox was about to handcuff him a number of men, possibly up to six, came out of a downstairs front window and attacked him.

Gda Cox was in his uniform and was clearly identifiable as a garda on duty.

"If Eoin's colleagues had not arrived so quickly and intervened we dread to think what injuries he would have sustained," his father Brian said.

Recruits

He revealed that his father, John, Eoin's grandfather, was one of the first recruits in Ireland's fledgling police force in 1922.

"I remember growing up in the garda station in Howth, and it was a different world. Then, the public had great respect for the gardai.

"Along with many parents, I was so proud when Eoin chose to become a garda, but what people don't appreciate is the danger they place themselves in every single day.

"Eoin was just doing his job - the job he is asked to do by the State - when this attack happened," he said.

"We have had enormous support from friends and from strangers since the attack."

The garda press office confirmed that two men, aged 18 and 20, were arrested and are due to appear before Dun Laoghaire District Court next month.