A campaign is underway to recruit more than 650 Garda Reserves.
It is hoped there will be 1,000 serving Garda Reserve members by 2026 - there are currently 341.
The stipend for the positions has also been increased, with those volunteering for more than 200 hours a year entitled to €3,000 tax-free.
Garda Reserves are voluntary members of An Garda Síochána. Reserves are placed in communities and work to assist An Garda Síochána with local patrols and crime reduction initiatives.
They also assist in policing major incidents and events, and provide operational support to gardaí on the basis of the Garda Reserve’s skills or local knowledge.
Through this campaign, members of the public "are afforded the opportunity to develop hands-on policing experience, and to serve their communities by giving back to their own locality".
Among the ways Reserves do this is through community engagement activities, traffic management, attending major events, carrying out administrative duties, and providing general support to full-time gardaí.
The Garda Reserve was established in 2006. Gardaí said 18 different nationalities are represented including people who are of Brazilian, Polish, Nigerian, Pakistani, Romanian, Chinese, Indian, Iranian and Moroccan ethnicity.
Those eligible to apply include any Irish citizen aged from 18 to 60, including nationals of a European Member state; an EEA State or the Swiss Confederation; or those legally resident in the state for five years.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said: "The Garda Reserve was introduced in 2006 to assist An Garda Síochána in increasing the visible uniform police presence in the community - helping to prevent crimes and to provide greater reassurance to the community. Since then our volunteers in policing have become an integral part of this organisation.
"They are credited with bringing a wide range of experience, skills and outlooks to An Garda Síochána, and we recognise their input as crucial to ensuring that Ireland has a police service that is trusted and valued by the Irish public. We are eager to encourage greater representation from minority communities in our Garda Reserves, and so I am hopeful that this recruitment campaign will result in communities being served by a diverse cohort of Garda Reserves into the future."
