PSNI 50/50 rule may be dropped

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Mr Owen Paterson has hinted that he may drop the rule requiring that half of all new recruits to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) must be Catholics.

The rule, introduced to make the North’s police service representative of both communities, was one of the recommendations of the Patten Report, which was implemented when the PSNI was set up and replaced the old Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

Mr Paterson said the 50/50 rule had created an organisation that was more representative of the divided community and said that in the New Year, he will carry out a consultation on the legislation that expires on March 28, but said he was "minded not to renew the provisions.”

Unionist politicians always opposed the measure, introduced because the RUC was predominantly Protestants in its makeup.  

The secretary of State said that the last decade had brought “significant change in the composition of the PSNI,” disclosing, "today, over 29% of serving officers in the PSNI are from a Catholic background.”

"At the time of the Patten report, Catholic composition in the Royal Ulster Constabulary stood at just 8.3%,” Mr Paterson recalled.  

He said the 29% Catholic component was “within the target range set out by Patten and the PSNI is now broadly reflective of the community it serves.” 

"The provisions have clearly played an important role in getting us to this point, but it was always envisaged that they would be of a temporary nature." 

Mr Paterson said that Northern Ireland had enjoyed “significant political stability and normality in recent years” and the transfer of policing and justice powers to a locally-elected minister last April “put in place the final piece of the new policing structures envisaged in both the Patten Report and the Belfast Agreement of 1998.  In this context, and nearly a decade after their introduction, now is the time to consider the future of the temporary provisions.” 

 

"These provisions were last consulted on by the previous administration in 2009 and in my view the balance of the argument favours letting the provisions lapse in March next year, but I will, of course, reflect carefully on the outcome of the consultation,” he said. 

Mr Paterson said it was important that “local politicians, community leaders and people all across Northern Ireland ensure that the PSNI remains a representative police service and that everyone who wishes to pursue a career in the PSNI is encouraged to do so.”

As the Secretary of State was hinting at dropping the 50/50 rule, Northern Justice Minister David Ford was also suggesting it could be let lapse.

In an address to an Oireachtas committee on the implementation of the Belfast Agreement, Mr Ford said 29.3 per cent of PSNI officers were from a “perceived Catholic background”, while 255 were now women. 

“Recently, roughly 37 per cent of the pool of applicants has been of a perceived Catholic 

background,” he said.

Commenting on the suggestion that the British government might end the 50/50 recruitment policy, he said he would be content for the policy to conclude.  

“A fixation solely with religious background has meant issues like gender and ethnic background are not half as well advanced as they might have been.”

SDLP spokesman Dominic Bradley said he was opposed to the dropping of the rule, saying that 29% of the PSNI being Catholic still did not make the force representative of the Northern Ireland community.  

“29% is far from being broadly representative of the community. The SDLP believes that the percentage of Catholics in the PSNI should be between 40 and 44 per cent,” he said in a statement.  

"Such a figure would be broadly representative of the composition of the community here”. 

Without the 50/50 recruitment system, Mr Bradley claimed it would take around 30 years to achieve that balance.  

"Contrary to the belief of some, the Patten Report did not put any limit to the length of time that 50:50 recruitment should last. 

“We believe it should continue until we have a fully representative police service here."  

SIC: CIN/IE