The European Union says it is close to reaching 5,000 police officers for a new civilian crisis-management force to complement a military rapid-reaction force.
It is understood that 60 gardaí will be among this number.
Chiefs of police or other high-ranking officers from all 15 member states attended a meeting in Brussels to agree on how many men and women they hoped to contribute to the force.
"I cannot say today that we have guarantees for 5,000 [police officers] . . . [but] we have guarantees for something like 4,700," said Sweden's National Police Commissioner, Mr Sten Hecksher.
The EU member states already have around 3,500 police officers deployed around the world - the majority in the Balkans working alongside NATO troops in places such as Kosovo and Bosnia.
"We will need to keep up this commitment . . . to bring lasting stability and peace to the Balkans as well as to other crisis areas around the world," EU foreign and security policy chief Mr Javier Solana said.
Sweden declined to say how many police officers each member state had pledged, but diplomatic sources gave a breakdown of Italy 1,100, France 800, Spain 500, Britain 450, Portugal 330, Sweden 160, Greece 140, Denmark 125, Austria 110, Ireland 60 and Luxembourg 6.
No figures were available for The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.