Police recruits in Ireland will no longer have to do press-ups or sit-ups after too many failed the fitness test to begin training for the force.

Different fitness requirements based on age and gender are also being replaced with a blanket single standard by police bosses, who fear discrimination lawsuits.

Long-running efforts to increase police numbers from about 14,000 have failed since recruitment stalled during the pandemic.

The Irish government recently repeated its pledge to boost the force to 15,000 members after two serious knife attacks in Dublin.

Fitness requirements for potential new “guards” have now been significantly relaxed to make it easier to get admission to the Garda college, The Irish Times reported on Thursday.

Figures released last year showed 162 out of 520 candidates failed the pre-entry fitness test, including almost half of all women. Younger candidates had a higher failure rate than older recruits.

About 60 per cent of adults and more than one in five children and young people are classified as either overweight or obese in Ireland, according to its health service.

Would-be recruits had to perform between 16 and 37 sit-ups and nine and 24 press-ups, under the old system, which had different requirements depending on age and gender.

Men between the ages of 18 and 29 had to do the most and women between 40 and 49 years old the least.

Under the new system, which began on Saturday, there will be no sit-up or press-up requirements.

Different standards for men, women, younger and older candidates have also been replaced with a single standard for all potential recruits.

The Irish Times reported that police bosses were anxious that different requirements based on age or gender risked discrimination cases in the courts.

The Garda lost two cases because it had an age limit of 35 years old for new recruits. Last year that was increased to 50.

The bleep test, which requires a recruit to repeatedly dash between two points, has also been made easier.

The old bleep test required candidates to run between 660m and 1,240m and score between 4.9 and 8.5, depending on age and gender. Now there is a single score requirement of 5.6.

That makes the fitness test easier for almost all the candidates, except for women over the age of 40 who will have to perform better than under the old system.

The third stage of the preliminary fitness test is an obstacle course which must be cleared within a set time, which has not been changed.

Cadets will still have to pass fitness tests during their training. As things stand, the pass requirements for those tests, overseen by the University of Limerick,  are unchanged.

The Irish Times said it understood police bosses were considering making them easier.