Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has denied his plans for a Garda reserve force involve "yellow-pack policing", and has appealed to Garda representative associations for their support.
Speaking in Galway yesterday, Mr McDowell said that he was "absolutely determined" to establish "a proper reserve system".
Mr McDowell said the Garda Commissioner had asked him to establish a reserve of 4,000 members, and he had put in place a plan for 900 members this year.
There would be "full vetting" of all reservist volunteers in relation to security issues, such as access to sensitive files and the Pulse computer system, he said.
"You can conjure up a thousand objections to something, but if it is, in the last analysis, a worry about overtime, and a worry about wages, they have nothing to fear. This year's budget has record provision for such issues," he said.
Mr McDowell said training for the reservists would not be to the "same level" as "two years in Templemore", but reservists would be working under the supervision of experienced, full-time gardaí.
He said it would be a "very peculiar reserve policemaif he couldn't arrest somebody who is obstructing". Volunteer police forces "right across the world" had the power of arrest.
He said "the extra powers of arrest that would be conferred on a reservist would be in relation to simple things like obstructing them, public-order offences and things like that", he said.
He said the real question in the debate was: "Have people the bottle for change?"
