A pre-election promise by Fianna Fáil to recruit 2,000 extra gardaí within the lifetime of the Government has been "jettisoned" due to a lack of resources, the Labour Party has claimed.
The Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Mr Willie O'Dea, admitted at the weekend the plan may not be honoured unless the resources are available.
But, speaking at the Fianna Fáil ardfheis, Mr O'Dea said 690 new gardaí will be on the beat in the next six months. He said this would bring the total force to 12,200 - the highest in the history of the State.
Mr O'Dea signalled the establishment of a Garda reserve force, which he said would assist full-time gardaí in certain areas of policing, such as traffic.
However, Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, criticised the Government for having jettisoned its pre-election pledge on increasing Garda numbers.
He said the Garda training centre at Templemore was "barely able to keep up" with maintaining the force at its present level. "There is no money coming from the Department of Finance for extra gardaí," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said the Minister for Justice had previously signalled his intention to proceed with his plan to recruit extra gardaí once the ban on recruitment in the public service has been lifted.
She said the plan could not proceed due to the embargo on recruitment imposed by the Department of Finance.
However, some 690 gardai would be trained during 2003, bringing the force to its maximum authorised strength of 12,200.