The strength of the Garda Síochána is set to fall below the 13,000 stipulated by Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan before recruitment resumes.
Senior Garda sources have told The Irish Times there are now 13,150 members in the Garda, almost 1,500 off the peak levels of 14,600 just after the economy collapsed.
With natural wastage through Garda retirements of between 250 and 450 per year, numbers will fall below 13,000 before the first new Garda recruits take up their postings late next year or in early 2015.
Recruits must complete 32 weeks training before they are posted to stations. If recruits do not begin training in the first quarter of 2014 it would be early 2015 by the time they would be posted, by which time Garda numbers would be several hundred below 13,000.
Justice committee
Mr Callinan told the Oireachtas justice committee last November: "I would like to see us not go below 13,000."
Under the terms of the EU-IMF bailout, the troika stipulated that numbers were to be reduced to 13,000 by the end of 2012, a level that was missed. It has been anticipated that while numbers would be reduced to or close to 13,000, they would not be allowed to fall further.
Garda Representative Association deputy general secretary John Healy warned reduced Garda numbers diminished the service to the public.
“In some areas it is now impossible to cover all the policing needs. There have been no new recruits replacing retirements in the frontline units for the past four years.”
Many senior officers expected Minister for Justice Alan Shatter would use the budget to set out specific plans for Garda recruitment. However, while Mr Shatter reiterated his commitment to resuming recruitment, he did not give a specific date and there was no mention of the scale of the programme.
