FlANNA FAIL has undertaken to keep rural Garda stations open if returned to government after the next general election.
The party's justice spokesman, Mr John O'Donoghue, said it would end what he described as current efforts to "close down some Garda stations by stealth".
Garda management is planning to expand its rural policing scheme, by adding 85 stations in 12 Garda districts to the 100 stations already involved.
If implemented, the most obvious change for most rural communities will be that their local Garda station will be open for only an hour or two at a time.
Mr O'Donoghue said that while he did not oppose the whole scheme, he was against stations being closed. In government Fianna Fail would commit greater resources to the fight against crime, he said, "and in that context we would cease the closure of rural Garda stations while expanding rural policing by increasing recruitment".
There are signs of disenchantment among middle-ranking gardai at the scheme, with the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (ASGI) suggesting more resources are needed if Garda management's plans are to be effective.
Under the scheme a station is designated an "area headquarters" and a small number of stations around it become satellite stations, open for only limited hours. Gardai who previously manned these stations become a "district resource", involved in patrols and other duties, when not opening the stations for short periods.
Garda management believes the controversial scheme, introduced in 1991, is a better use of manpower than leaving local gardai in their stations. It allows for larger numbers of gardai to be available to respond to incidents, and also gives them opportunities for occasional foot patrols to keep contact with local people.
According to a Garda briefing document on the planned expansion of the scheme most of the new areas to be brought into it will have a team of four gardai, to be called "area community gardai" which will provide the basic police service in each locality.
The document says they should "perform patrols in such a manner which would ensure a visible presence amongst the community at different times on different days, particularly at times when a lot of people are about - for instance, at shopping areas and post offices on busy days or in the vicinity of churches at times of church services for funerals".
Garda critics of the scheme say this is designed to give the impression that there are always gardai about. They also say the four garda teams are too small, as their members will inevitably be called away for other duties - such as monitoring crowds at sporting fixtures - and will not be available to communities.
The document says stations which have 20 or more callers per day are to open for "not less than two hours per day". Those with between 10 and 19 callers should open "not more than two hours and not less than one hour per day". Stations which have fewer than 10 callers a day are to open for only one hour daily.
Local gardai are to be instructed to log all calls so that the level of demand for gardai in each area can be calculated.
Stations which are to have curtailed opening hours are to open at periods convenient for the local population. For example, they should open in the early evening in areas where there is high employment. The planned extension of the scheme is currently at "discussion stage".
Garda management's faith in the scheme is supported by official crime figures. In 1995 (the latest year for which detailed figures are available) rural crime fell by 1.4 per cent, compared to a 2.6 per cent rise in urban crime.
Gardai were also better at solving crimes in rural areas, with a 44.7 per cent detection rate compared to a 38.1 per cent rate for urban crime. An Irish Times/ MRBI opinion poll published earlier this week also indicated that people in rural areas had more faith in the Garda's performance than those in urban areas.