Height requirements for gardai could be abolished shortly and replaced with a single physical fitness test, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, announced.
The Minister has approved the establishment of a Physical Competence Test Review Group which would examine the current height requirements of five feet nine inches for men and five feet five inches for women.
Mr O'Donoghue said valid questions had been raised as to whether the use of such limits represented current best practice in recruitment.
He noted: "Gardai today are involved in all kinds of specialist roles: dealing with computer crime and the painstaking investigation of child sex abuse."
At present, recruits must undergo written, oral and medical examinations but no fitness test.
A spokesman for the Minister noted that most international police forces had either lower height requirements than the Republic, or none.
