Sinn Féin calls for return to 50-50 police recruitment

A 50-50 approach to police recruitment - with one Catholic applicant accepted for every applicant from a Protestant or other background - should be reintroduced, Sinn Féin has said.

It comes after the latest Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer recruitment campaign 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.

But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has said any return to the practice would be a "mistake" and "reintroduce discrimination".

The 50-50 recruitment policy was in place between 2001 and 2011.

Nationalist politicians viewed it as a success, but unionist politicians said it unfairly discriminated against Protestants.

The new PSNI recruitment figures have prompted fresh concerns about representation within the force.

On Monday, Sinn Fein policing board member Deirdre Hargey said her party was planning to raise the matter when it met Chief Constable Jon Boutcher later.

She said the policy should never have been removed.

Any change to reintroduce the policy would require intervention from the UK government.

"Its removal demonstrates that we're seeing a downward trajectory in numbers and recruitment figures and we need to rescue that before the situation deteriorates more," said Hargey.

She rejected suggestions that nationalist politicians were not doing enough to encourage Catholics to join the PSNI.

"We have been proactive...any person that comes forward and wants to become a member, we would encourage them to do that but there's a job of work to be done within the PSNI to recognise barriers."

Hargey said there was a "culture" that needed to be addressed as well as ongoing issues around Troubles legacy matters.

On Saturday, DUP leader Gavin Robinson said there had been an "absence of sustained and wholehearted leadership" from republicans to challenge barriers to Catholics joining the PSNI.

In his weekly email to party members, he said there had been a "predictable" call for the return of 50:50 since the latest recruitment figures were released.

"That would be a mistake," the Belfast East MP said.

"It would reintroduce discrimination and undermine merit. Representation cannot be built by excluding capable applicants from other backgrounds."

Robinson said "chill factors still existed for Catholic applicants to the police in Northern Ireland".

"Pretending otherwise helps no-one. But acknowledging that reality cannot be where the discussion stop," he said.

"For too long, there has been an absence of sustained and wholehearted leadership within republicanism to challenge those barriers directly."

The Social Democratic and Labour Party also said it believed 50-50 recruitment would "be a drastic action that for a period of time could be undertaken to try and secure the numbers so that they are re-balanced".

In 2001, under policing reforms, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which was overwhelmingly Protestant, was renamed as the PSNI.

One of the aims was to build broader community support and increase Catholic officers.

The 50-50 process was introduced as part of the Patten policing reforms.

When it was first introduced, Catholics made up about 8% of the police.

The PSNI currently has about 6,300 officers - 67% of whom as "perceived Protestant" and 32% of whom are "perceived Catholic".