General secretary of the GRA, PJ Stone, said that the association's opposition to the new garda reserve was not over "by any stretch of the imagination". Justice minister Michael McDowell has asked garda comissioner Noel Conroy for a report on Stone's comments on RTE radio.

Stone said that rank-andfile gardai remained strongly opposed to the new force, who began training yesterday. He said that members of the gardai were disappointed that people had applied to join the garda reserve knowing the strength of opposition among rank-and-file members of the force.

The first 40 garda reservists began training at the garda college in Templemore, Co Tipperary yesterday. The force was proposed in July 2005 by minister for justice Michael McDowell and recruitment began last month. Over 6,500 people applied to fill the 900 reserve posts that will be filled initially.

The GRA has opposed the new force, claiming that members of the garda reserve will not be trained to the standards of gardai. Stone described the proposed training scheme for reservists as minimal and said it was mind-boggling that they would have powers of arrest.

The association will decide on a further course of action in opposition to the reserve next month, he added. The GRA has previously stated that gardai will refuse to cooperate with members of the new force.