McDowell insists number of Gardaí will increase to 14,000

The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell today insisted that the numbers of Gardaí on the streets would reach 14,000 by December of next year.

He was reacting to questions in the Dáil by Fine Gael's Jim O'Keeffe, who said the Government was contradicting itself after Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said last week that figure would not be reached until 2008.