THE PART-TIME Garda Reserve force will reach its full strength in the next two years and would almost double in size if all of those applicants on the waiting list were cleared to join.
The recruitment of reservists has not been affected by the public sector recruitment moratorium because it is an unpaid force.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has already criticised the continued recruitment of unpaid part-time reservists at a time when the recruitment of full-time gardaí has been stopped.
Supt Simon O’Connor, who is in charge of the Garda Reserve, said the plan had always been to increase numbers in the part-time force to 10 per cent of the total number of full-time gardaí.
“We are well on course to make that happen and we already have the numbers selected for the next two years to make it happen,” he said.
Supt O’Connor was speaking at the latest reservist graduation ceremony at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Following the graduation of yesterday’s class of 84, there are now 707 fully attested reservists with a further 100 in training.
A further 300 will enter training next year, having already been cleared for membership, and a second batch of 300, also already vetted, is expected to join in 2012.
This would bring numbers in the reserves up to just over 1,400 by the end of 2012.
While there are currently 14,500 full-time gardaí in the Republic, this number will begin to fall due to retirements because recruitment of full-time members has stopped.
By the end of 2012, there will most likely be substantially fewer than 14,000 gardaí in the force, meaning the 1,400 project number of reserve personnel will exceed the full strength reservist target of 10 per cent of the full time force.
Supt O’Connor said there was a further waiting list of 900 people who had applied to join the reserves.
These applicants had yet to be vetted and it was unclear how many would eventually become reservists.
Nine per cent of the existing reserve force are non-Irish, comprised of 22 different nationalities.
Addressing the new graduates yesterday, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said their presence on the streets provided reassurance to members of the public, particularly some elderly people who felt isolated and vulnerable in their homes.
The GRA, which represents all full-time rank-and-file gardaí, last week reiterated its concerns in relation to the reserve force.
It said in its Garda Review magazine: “The Garda Representative Association opposed the Garda Reserve.
“We still do, and for good reason, as the Government teeters on the edge of a sovereignty abyss, the camouflaged use of unpaid, improperly trained volunteers in place of real policing undermines An Garda Síochána.”