Recruitment to the new Garda Reserve force is progressing so poorly that only about 140 members will be in place by the time of the summer general election, it has emerged.
If current trends continue it would take just over seven years to recruit and train the full number of 1,500 reservists envisaged by Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell.
The real timetable could be much longer when the dropout rate from the force becomes clear over the long term.
Labour's justice spokesman Brendan Howlin said the figures proved Mr McDowell's "rhetoric has outstripped his delivery".
"Like everything else McDowell touches, he approached this with huge fanfare followed by poor delivery. Up to now he's gotten away with it but it's a con job."
Fine Gael's spokesman on justice Jim O'Keeffe said the figures proved the implementation of the reserve force was failing.
The recruitment and training process is taking so long that five months after the first group began training , the Reserve Force has just 36 fully qualified members.
A second class, numbering 53 recruits, began training at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, on January 20th.
A third class of trainees, which will also number around 50, is scheduled to begin training next month. These will be qualified just before the election is due to take place.
It will mean that the number of fully qualified reservists will reach about 140 in May, some eight months after recruitment began.
A spokeswoman for Mr McDowell said the Minister and the department were "relaxed" about the recruitment drive. She said it was always envisaged that recruitment would take place over a long period. When spare capacity became available in the Garda college towards the end of 2008 training would be accelerated.
The Garda Reserve recruitment figures were released by Mr McDowell in a Dáil reply to Fianna Fáil TD Charlie O'Connor.
The figures show that of the 36 reservists already qualified 24 are based in inner-city Dublin stations with 11 in Store Street and 13 in Pearse Street. A further seven have been assigned to Cork city's Anglesea Street, four to Galway City and one to Sligo.
