McDowell backing for reserve force of 1,200 to help gardaí

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell said he is favour of introducing a 1,200-strong reserve police force to assist the gardaí.

Mr McDowell said he also wants to raise the garda retirement age from 57 to 60. Reaffirming the Government's commitment to increasing the strength of the garda force to 14,000 by 2007, he said he would bolster numbers by 400 before the end of next year, bringing the total compliment to 12,200.

The minister said he was anxious to get more people into front line policing and out from behind their desks. He said that increasing retirement age and creating a reserve part-time police force would be discussed with various garda representative organisations.