The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) is calling for more than 160 Garda sergeants to be instated as a matter of urgency.

It is one of the points on the agenda for the association's annual conference in Carlow, which opens today.

AGSI General Secretary John Jacob says they will raise the lack of supervision with the Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan when he attends the conference this evening.

Mr Jacob observed: "It's important that we have frontline supervisors. It's important that the Minister for Justice looks at that today when we address him.

"The organisation is covered by an employment control framework, which means we can only have the number of positions that the Government decides we can have. They need to revisit that urgently, and they need to increase our numbers."

Rules around industrial action by gardaí will also be on the agenda, with the AGSI saying it is only pushing for what’s fair in terms of the right to strike,

The conference will also heavily focus on the welfare and wellbeing of AGSI members.

AGSI President Antoinette Cunningham explained: "Never before have our members been so stressed, and given the rise in suicide rates within the force, we felt a real need to make welfare and wellbeing a red-line issue."

The conference gets under way from 2pm today, and will run until Wednesday afternoon.