PSNI should reflect the community it polices - Irish justice minister

The Irish justice minister has said he wants to see the PSNI "reflect" the community it polices.

Jim O'Callaghan was responding to the latest Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer recruitment campaign that attracted the lowest percentage of Catholic applicants for more than a decade.

The PSNI already has an under-representation of Catholics in its ranks and is concerned the situation will worsen.

Sinn Féin has called for a 50-50 recruitment drive, with one Catholic applicant accepted for every applicant from a Protestant or other background.

"I want to see the police service of Northern Ireland to reflect the community of Northern Ireland that they are policing," said O'Callaghan.

"It's not for me to get involved in recruitment in respect of people coming into the PSNI, I do that for An Garda Síochána. But I would like to see the PSNI representative of the community that it polices."

He was speaking after meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn and Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee in Dublin on Thursday.

Before the meeting, Benn said the sharing of information by the Irish authorities will be hugely important for legacy investigations.

"There is no doubt that sharing of information by the Irish authorities will be hugely important for legacy investigations and the Omagh bombing inquiry," he said.

O'Callaghan said the Irish government will be "fully cooperative" in sharing any information.

"The Irish government has fully cooperated with all inquiries before.

"Already, we've provided significant amount of documentation in respect of Omagh and any files that An Garda Síochána has had. When it comes to any legacy files and investigations, the Irish government will be fully compliant and fully cooperative."

He said he "emphasised" to Benn that the Irish government has to see British laws too.

"It's very much important and I emphasised this to the Secretary of State this afternoon, that we get to see the UK legislation as well, because obviously the UK legislation is crucially important to this and was very much encouraged by the commitment by the Secretary of State to ensure that that legislation would be put in place."

He said Irish laws on the Omagh bombing inquiry will be introduced to the Irish parliament next month and "enacted promptly after that".

Further laws will be brought forward in May.

O'Callaghan said the UK and Irish governments are "completely" on the same page on legacy proposals, which at times have been controversial.

Labour's bill seeks to replace the contentious Legacy Act, which introduced a ban on inquests and civil actions related to Troubles-era incidents.

The new plan involves a Legacy Commission to investigate Troubles-related killings, a separate information recovery body, and a dedicated legacy unit within An Garda Síochána.

The measures were agreed in a joint framework with the Irish government.