Gardaí are appealing for ethnic minorities to join the force.
They say they would especially like more black and Asian officers to represent the new face of the Irish public.
John O’Keefe of the GRA, which represents rank and file Gardaí, said:
"Almost one in five members of the force should be outside the white Irish category.
"It won't come as a surprise to anybody to know that's not the case.
"Currently there are 63 gardaí who would fall within that category, most of whom are Chinese."