Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan will increase the Garda force to over 20,000 in a bid to combat the rise in rural crime.
The Fine Gael TD made the announcement at the recent General Election selection convention where he was put forward to contest an eight election for the party.
Addressing party members, Flanagan told that another 200 gardai would pass out next month and Laois would see the benefits of the extra numbers shortly.
He said: “Rural crime is a matter of concern to me and I wish to assure you of new gardai locally and new gardai nationally.
“I will be in Templemore, irrespective of whether there is an election, in December to celebrate the passing out of 200 more gardai along with the 188 that I welcomed into the garda service in September.
“This is ensuring that we are on plan to have a force of 21,000 members of an Garda Siochana – including 4,000 civilians and 2,000 reserves.
“Many of whom will be active in Laois by the year 2021. By the end of this year, we will 13,500 gardai and already this week we will see a number of extra gardai in the town of Mountmellick.
“We will also see other areas around Laois being serviced in the near future.”
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