Gardaí set to lose 800 members as cutbacks strike

GARDAÍ are expected to haemorrhage about 800 members this year as the Government proceeds to cut numbers to 13,000 by 2014.

The news comes as the last 126 graduates in the Garda Training College in Templemore leave this Thursday. The college will then be empty of trainees, meaning there will be no more recruits for at least two years.

But some Garda sources predict it could be 2014, or even 2016, before any recruits are brought in to do the two-year graduate course.