Leading Orangeman: Bringing back 50:50 Catholic police hiring would be backward step – especially given unionist crisis of faith in PSNI

Rev Mervyn Gibson was reacting to the SDLP voicing “great regret” that the practice of hiring one Catholic for every Protestant is no longer in force.

The 50:50 policy was a way of trying to raise the percentage of Catholic officers from 8% at the time the force was formed in 2001.

It remained in force until 2011.

As of the last census in 2011, 45% of the population were either Catholic, or brought up as Catholic, while 48% were Protestant or brought up in Protestant.

A new census ran this year, and when the results of it finally emerge, they are highlylikely to show that there are now more Catholics than Protestants in Northern Ireland.

At present, Catholics make up roughly 32% of PSNI officers.

But the balance has slipped in the past decade, and out of the officers hired in last year’s recruitment campaign, 75% were Protestant (144) and 24% were Catholic (46).

The PSNI yesterday declared that it is taking applications for “up to 400 new student officers”, with the closing date being November 19.

Whilst it has not said it will seek 50:50 recruitment, the top brass have stressed repeatedly that they are trying to make the PSNI “representative” of the population in general.

Rev Gibson, a Presbyterian minister and grand secretary of the Orange Order, served for 18 years in the police, much of it in Special Branch.

Asked what he thinks of the idea of 50:50 being instituted again today, he said: “I believe it’d be a backwards step as the unionist community felt they were discriminated against by that legislation.

“It was discrimination – although it was spun as positive discrimination.

“It was not satisfactory for the unionist community.

“It would be a retrograde step at this time to go back to 50:50 recruitment, particularly when confidence in the police in the unionist community is at a low ebb.

“We all want to see a police force that’s representative of the community.

“Those communities need to apply to join the force.

“Legally, everyone has to join on a level playing field, and meet the required standards.”

In September, the Orange Order had declared confidence in the PSNI to be at “an all-time low”.

In 2019, the leader of Ireland’s Catholic population, Archbishop Eamon Martin, had been quoted by the BBC as saying of the current Catholic-Protestant split in the PSNI: “It’s almost 20% short of the percentage of young Catholics who are out there.

“If you think of that age group of young people in Northern Ireland, almost 50% of those young people are Catholic and I think it should be a matter of concern, not just for Catholic communities, but indeed for the whole community.”

Dolores Kelly, an SDLP MLA and member of the Policing Board which oversees the work of the police, yesterday noted that it has been two full decades since the RUC was transformed into the PSNI.

She said: “I can’t think of a better opportunity for us to recommit to the principles of the PSNI, which was set up to be a shared police service for a shared society, a significant departure from the institutionalised sectarianism represented by the RUC.

“It is a matter of great regret that the British government dropped its original commitment to 50:50 recruitment and as a result an initial surge in Catholics joining the service has fallen away.

“Catholics now make up just 32% of the police service and without action this is likely to fall even further in the years to come.

“The SDLP has always encouraged Catholics to consider a career in the PSNI, and I’m repeating that call today.

“Despite attempts from some narrow-minded elements in our communities to dissuade Catholics from considering a career in policing it is a vocation to be proud of ...

“Our police service isn’t perfect, they still get things wrong, like we all do, but we have come a long way over these past two decades.”

Sinn Fein was asked if it too would encourage people to join the PSNI in this latest hiring drive. It was also asked if it backs the re-instatement of 50:50 recruitment.

It did not respond.

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