Nearly 4,000 of the force's 12,000 members received firearms cards from garda commissioner Noel Conroy last year, the figures show. The cards allow gardai to wield weapons in the course of their duties.

This large increase in the number of officers who have been issued with the permit is linked to the increasing deployment of armed gardai to deal with organised crime gangs.

Large-scale resources are being devoted to cracking down on gangs involved in armed robberies and in the assassination of rival criminal leaders and armed robberies.

In these cases, many of the gardai drafted into the special units, who would otherwise be on uniformed and unarmed duties, have been issued with permission to carry firearms when assigned to these units.

Regular gardai who are issued with firearms permits have access to Smith and Wesson 0.38 calibre revolvers, Sig Sauer 9mm automatic handguns and Uzi 9mm submachine guns. Specialist armed units, such as the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), are issued with high-performance Heckler and Koch rifles and Sig Sauer 9mm pistols.

The diversion of gardai from 'ordinary' duties into specialist units was "creating significant pressure" among members of the force, Fine Gael's justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe told the Sunday Tribune.

"It is leading to a drain on what might be termed ordinary activities of the gardai, " he said. "This will remain the case where there is not an adequate allocation of the promised 2,000 extra members of the force by the justice minister."

O'Keeffe has also raised concerns about the training received by armed gardai.

Commissioner Conroy has appointed a working group to examine issues relating to the use of firearms in the force with particular reference to training.

"At this point, I have not yet received a report from the commissioner on the findings of this group, " justice minister Michael McDowell told the Dail last week.