The Minister for Justice and Defence has said that a commitment in the EU/IMF agreement to reduce garda numbers is making it difficult for his Department to cut spending.
Alan Shatter said the previous Government agreed to reduce the force from 14,500 to 13,500 but there was no "arrangement put in place" to make this happen.
So far only 400 gardaí have retired since the agreement was signed last December.
The Minister added that his Department has done a huge amount of work to find savings and he is confident it will get the required spending cuts before the end of the year.
