Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald is to seek Cabinet approval today to reopen six Garda stations. Ms Fitzgerald is to request support for a pilot scheme to be launched.

The Minister for Justice will not indicate what stations should be reopened or how long it will take. She is expected to insist that decision is at t Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s discretion.

The Minister will also write to the Policing Authority over the coming days to outline her decision and to ask them to do a review of Garda stations in rural areas.

The move will fulfil a commitment in the programme for government reached between Fine Gael and the Independent TDs. It pledged to launch a pilot scheme to reopen six urban and rural Garda stations.

In 2013, 100 Garda stations were closed.

In response to a question in the Dáil recently Ms Fitzgerald said the closures allowed front-line gardaí “to be managed and deployed with greater mobility, greater flexibility and in a more focused fashion”.