Just 18 gardaí from ethnic minorities have been recruited under a much-publicised drive since 2006 to attract foreign nationals into the force, it has emerged.

In 2006, then justice minister Michael McDowell announced changes to the entry criteria to join An Garda Síochána – including removing the Irish-language requirement – to attract more immigrants and began a recruitment drive aimed at enticing foreign nationals into the force.

The year before, the garda commissioner was given the power to recruit personnel with special skills from overseas. The force set a target of bringing the number of non-Irish in the force up to 5%.

At the time, McDowell said this was a hugely significant step which would help ensure future intake of recruits reflected the composition of Irish society.

Charlie Flanagan, Fine Gael justice spokesman, said the number of foreign gardaí recruited to date was "extremely disappointing".

"An Garda Síochána should reflect multicultural Ireland. These figures show it doesn't. A review should be undertaken in order to see what measures can be taken to attract people from all sections of society into the gardaí," he said.

The 18 foreign gardaí are from China, Poland, US, Greece, South Africa and Denmark.

Recruits who do not speak Irish undertake basic training in the language in the garda college, Templemore, Co Tipperary, as part of their two-year preparatory course.

There has been a marginally better return in attracting ethnic minorities into the unpaid ranks of the garda reserve.

According to figures released in August, there were 15 non-Irish nationals in the standby force, comprising nine Chinese, a Dutch, a Romanian, a Greek, a Lithuanian, a Pole and a South African.