A confidential report has warned that 8% of garda stations will be left without a permanent garda if all those who are eligible retire by next February.
The internal garda report, which was seen by RTÉ's Prime Time, was drawn up to assess the impact of forthcoming retirements on the ability of An Garda Síochána to police the State.
The report also shows that over 10% of stations could be left with no permanent sergeants and that some garda stations and specialist units face potential losses at every rank.
This report says the gardaí will face 'significant personnel shortages' if all those who can retire decide to do so.
Almost 1,200 gardaí (8%) of all ranks can leave before next February. If they do not leave their pensions will be reduced and gratuities taxed.
In this worst-case scenario, the report says 39 stations would not have a permanent sergeant, while 51 would not have a permanent garda and without redeployment station closures are inevitable.
The majority of these are rural sub-stations. The regions worst affected would be the west, the south and the north, which could lose sergeants in 20% of its stations and gardaí in 7%.
The report also points out that 11 of the top 12 officers in the force could retire and that the specialist units - dealing with drugs, immigration, fraud and organised and serious crime - are particularly at risk.
