Just 154 trainee gardaí enrolled in the training college in Templemore this week, well short of the original target of 225, according to numbers released by the Garda Representative Association.
If this trend continues for the rest of the year, the plan to hire 1,000 new gardaí in 2023 will fall 30% short of target.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, GRA Deputy General Secretary Ronan Slevin said "we're struggling to get members into the job and we're struggling to retain members in the job as it stands and that thin blue line is getting threadbare day-by-day.
"Last year we had a commitment for 800, less than 300 guards entered Templemore," he added.
"And that's on the backdrop then of we're experiencing between 400 and 500 resignations and retirements every year.
"Our overall number of gardaí, when we were promised by Government that we'd have 15,000, we were promised many years ago we'd have 15,000, and we are down to just over 14,000 guards now.
"That's 700 members less than what we had in 2020."
Mr Slevin said that recruitment is being affected by pay.
"For trainees going into the job initially, they're paid a disgraceful €4.60 an hour for the 32 weeks that they're in training and these are people that have families possibly, and/or mortgages and they have to have an amount of savings to make their commitment to enter training and that's little training allowance for that long period of time."
He said that there is also an issue in relation to morale within the job "and it doesn't go without being noticed by people outside applying for it that there are issues in relation to assaults" on gardaí.
He added that work practices, conditions, and work-life balance are issues as well as disagreements over rosters and "the Commissioner's attempt to impose a serious change in our work-life balance".
A survey carried out showed that just one in four people would view the guards as a desirable career going forward, he said.
"That was never the situation previously."
He claimed that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris "doesn't believe that there is a morale problem and you can't fix the problem unless you actually believe there is one.
"First of all, he has to accept, he has to listen to the members on the ground and he has to make changes that keep the members that are in the job."
Mr Slevin said that something has to be done to encourage gardaí to stay on in the force and not retire at the earliest date.
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In a statement, An Garda Síochána said that a total of 371 people are currently in various stages of garda training.
"An Garda Síochána is satisfied that just under 5,000 people applied to become members of An Garda Síochána in the 2023 recruitment campaign, in what is currently a full and very competitive workplace market.
"The panel of candidates who applied during the 2022 campaign has not yet been exhausted and An Garda Síochána continue to process the 2022 applicants through the recruitment process."
The 154 trainees who entered the college yesterday were selected from the 2022 campaign, the statement added.
It said An Garda Síochána is committed to annual recruitment campaigns "in order to reach the minimum number of 15,000 sworn garda members and growing further in the coming years".
In a separate statement, the Department of Justice said the unprecedented €2.14 billion budget this year is allowing for the recruitment of up to 1,000 gardaí and 400 garda staff, and that garda recruits enter Templemore every 11 weeks.
It added that 92 recruits entered the training college late November, another 132 in February and another 155 earlier this week.
"For the current intake, 53 people who were due to enter the college deferred the taking up of their place immediately but confirmed that they wish to commence training in another intake.
"Combined, that shows for this intake over 200 people took up offers to join An Garda Síochána on the latest intake," the statement added.
