Labour's spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte said it is now clear there is no appetite inside the Department of Justice or the garda for the reserve force.

The president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) John Egan said, "The GRA had cautioned against the reserve when it was first mooted and nothing has happened since then to change our members' minds."

Pat Rabbitte believes there is little or no will for the reserve to succeed. "The Garda Reserve was a smokescreen by Michael McDowell and it was one hell of a diversion at the time that generated a serious amount of column inches. There is no appetite inside the Department of Justice and the gardai response to the reserve initially was positively hostile. The new minister doesn't seem to be too concerned with the reserve. It was always a diversion away from the reforms of the force that are necessary."

Speaking yesterday as the latest recruits graduated, minister of state Maire Hoctor said the reserve "was still in its early days" but it had the support of the government. "The government's commitment to the Garda Reserve is clear, " she said. "The Programme for Government sets the target for the reserve at 10% of the force.

The programme contains a commitment to bring the full-time membership to 16,000 by 2012, so the target for the reserve is 1600 members."