Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has announced changes are to be made in the way promotions are awarded within the Garda.
Mr McDowell was speaking this morning following the publication of two expert reports yesterday that recommended civilians be promoted to a number of senior Garda posts.
The reports - by the Garda Siochána Inspectorate and the Garda Siochána Advisory Group - call for the establishment of a number of new posts within the Garda, including the appointment of a civilian at deputy Garda commissioner level to deal with administration and resource management.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Irelandprogramme, Mr McDowell denied there is a danger of "over-civilianisation" of the gardai, and said more civilians in administrative posts could help get more gardaí on the streets.
"I think a balance has to be kept. You can't have a situation where gardaí are dominated by a civilian administration and don't take part in their own affairs so a balance has to be struck," he said.
He pointed out that there is a ten to one ratio of gardaí to civilians in the policing function in the State, whereas in Britain, the rate ranges from 60 to 40 or 70 to 30, depending on the constabulary.
He said: "I don't think that most gardaí want to do anything other than their chosen vocation for which they've done two years training now in Templemore which is to engage in mainstream frontline policing rather than back-up for their colleagues."
He said he now wanted to complete the roll-out of a force of 14,000 members. He also admitted there was a concern that gardaí feel they must go to specialised and centralised units to "get ahead", to the detriment of ordinary policing.
"That is a concern which has been expressed and the Inspectorate has reported that that is a concern which still exists in certain areas in the force and I have in the last few days put in train the new promotions system for An Garda Siochána and that promotions system is different from the old one.
"A majority of the promotion committees from now on will be civilian and they'll be chaired by a civilian person and their new terms of reference require them to operate on merit only and they are specifically mandated with ensuring the best people get the best jobs in An Garda Siochána, regardless of where they're coming from."
He said this system would be "totally transparent" and that people from local areas should be given fair opportunities for training and development courses to ensure they do not "become marginalized or put into a backwater."