Minister for Justice Michael McDowell will initiate a nationwide recruitment campaign for the Garda Reserve next month as part of a plan to have it in place by September, writes Liam Reid, Political Reporter.
Mr McDowell will also go before the Dáil in the coming weeks to seek the implementation of regulations allowing for the establishment of the reserve, despite opposition by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).
His plan received a boost yesterday when the Association of Garda Superintendents (AGS) said it welcomed the reserve.
"I very much appreciate their support for the reserve and I fully take on board their desire to be consulted on it," he said last night.
Speaking to The Irish Times before he addressed the AGS's annual conference in west Dublin, Mr McDowell said an advertising campaign was being planned for recruitment to the reserve, which will eventually number 4,000, and that this would begin towards the end of next month.
"We're going to be advertising for the recruitment phase in the very near future," he said. Pressed on when this would be, he said "late May".
The Minister played down opposition from other Garda ranks, saying he was willing to "sit down and talk with anyone . . . If people have suggestions as to how the whole thing can be made more effective, I'm willing absolutely to listen to what they have to say."
However, the move is likely to anger Garda representative organisations which have already outlined their serious reservations to Mr McDowell. The AGSI last week voted against co-operating with the reserve.
However, Mr McDowell said the organisation was almost evenly divided on the issue and that it had required the vote of the association's executive to push through the motion.
The Garda Representative Association has also raised concerns about the proposed reserve and has threatened not to co-operate with it, but Mr McDowell said he was still hopeful it would support the plan as it had said it was not opposed in principle to a reserve.
Before the recruitment drive can begin, Mr McDowell must first go to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice. Provision for the establishment of a reserve Garda force is contained in the Garda Act, which came into force last July.
However, the provision requires the implementation of regulations which must first be approved by the Oireachtas through the Committee on Justice.
The reserve has the support of most of the Opposition and the Government, although a small number of Fianna Fáil TDs have raised concerns about it in private party meetings.
The president of the Association of Garda Superintendents, Supt Noel McLoughlin, earlier said the establishment of a reserve would reinforce links with local communities, and would help to create a greater Garda presence on the ground.
"It will assist the Garda Síochána, particularly with visible presence," he said. "This is what the public are looking for, a greater physical presence on the street."