A Garda complaint will not be made against a judge who compared social welfare to a Polish charity after she made an unreserved apology.

The Integration Centre reneged on its pledge to report Judge Mary Devins to gardai when the Courts Service issued a second statement in her defence.

Last Friday, when Castlebar District Court questioned if there was a Polish charity in Ireland, Judge Devins remarked: "A Polish charity? There is. It's called the social welfare.

"I unreservedly and without qualification apologise for my off-the cuff comments at a recent court case," the judge said today.

"I understand and accept the hurt these comments caused to members of the Polish community.

"This was never my intention and I express my sorrow for same.

"My previous clarification was an attempt to provide a context and was not intended in any way to dilute my apology for such unwarranted comments."

Killian Forde, of the Integration Centre, said her remarks were disgraceful and bigoted, and her initial apology rambling, contrived and spurious.

The advocacy group had vowed to report her under the Garda Racist Reporting Mechanism.

"In light of Judge Mary Devins' unreserved apology to the Polish community, and those affected by her bigoted remarks, we have decided not to proceed with our complaint to the gardai," Mr Forde later said.

"However we will continue to monitor statements made by public servants, including judges, and where we think appropriate we will make intervention utilising whatever mechanisms exist in the State."

The Irish Polish Society had accepted the judge's initial apology, in which she claimed her comment was made in the context of - and alluding to - another recent violent, alcohol-fuelled incident involving several defendants of Polish origin who were all recipients of social welfare payments.

But spokeswoman Anna Szewc warned that people in the judge's position need to be more careful.

"If it happened again maybe there should be some consequences from that, but you know sometimes people get emotions, you can always explain that with something else," she said.

The hearing centred on the case of a trainee plumber over a public order offence in which the man had called an Irish security guard a "fat Polish f*****".

Another judge had ordered the man to save up and pay 1,000 euro to a Polish charity in lieu of a conviction and a fine.

The case returned before Judge Devins last Friday, when she made the comment which appeared in the Mayo News this week.

In her first statement the judge said: "The comment was intended to be specific to that incident and occurrence and was never intended to offend any community, or members of any community.

"If insult was taken from my comment I apologise for same."

But Mr Forde said that apology inflamed the insult by seeking to blame those offended by her remark for the insult they took.

"She needed to give an unequivocal apology to Polish people," he added.