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PSNI respinge 1000 aspiranti reclute non cattoliche

1,000 non-Catholic rejections by PSNI

THE PSNI has rejected would-be recruits because they were not Catholic almost 1,000 times.

Even though the budding police officers passed all the stringent tests, they were turned down on grounds of their religious denomination, under the 50/50 requirement.

The figures obtained by the News Letter show for the first time the impact of 50/50 which has been operating since 2001, and stipulates that half of all new recruits must be Catholic.

A Freedom of Information reply also shows that no Catholic candidate was rejected under 50/50.

When the News Letter asked whether this meant that all Catholics who had made the merit pool, and passed all the assessment tests, had been offered jobs, police confirmed that this was the case to date.

There is no suggestion that successful Catholic candidates are in any way less qualified, but rather that more non-Catholics reach the merit pool.

Police point out that non-Catholics still make up a clear majority of applicants, and they also point out that of the tens of thousands of people from all communities who have applied to join the PSNI, the overwhelming majority from all backgrounds neither reached the merit pool nor get admitted.

The data, which covers all 14 application drives since 50/50 was introduced, shows that 945 non-Catholic applications have been rejected due to 50/50 – which means they have met the merit pool but not been admitted.

During that time, 3,549 police officers were recruited, of whom 1,796 were Catholic and 1,753 non-Catholic.

Joe Stewart, the PSNI’s director of human resources, explained that 50/50 in effect meant that “if no Catholics apply or pass the merit thresholds we do not appoint anyone at all”.

He added: “If we do not have enough people who reach our merit standard then we do not appoint and seek to make up any shortfall in the following competition, irrespective of religion.”

A PSNI spokeswoman pointed out that some of the 945 rejected applications were repeat applicants.

“The figures are not reflective of the number of individuals rejected, it is the number of applications. In other words, it is possible that someone has applied in a number of different campaigns.”

But even allowing for double counting, the number of Protestant applicants who were rejected is likely to run into hundreds.

Some candidates who meet the merit pool are so desperate to join that they apply more than once, while others have become demoralised after one rejection.

One unionist MLA told the News Letter that his son had been appalled after being rejected on the grounds of religion, and had joined an English police force and now had no intention of returning.

Unionists have long opposed 50/50, which came into force in 2001 and was a central part of the Patten proposals for policing in Northern Ireland.

The provision is due to end when Catholic representation in the PSNI reaches 30 per cent. Currently it is around 27 per cent.

DUP MP for East Londonderry Gregory Campbell tabled a motion at Westminster this week calling for “the discriminatory anti-Protestant 50/50” to be “abolished immediately”.

The PSNI said that it was up to the Government to decide when 50/50 came to an end.

An NIO spokesman said: “The Government consultation on the renewal of 50/50 legislation closes today. Once the PSNI reaches the 30 per cent Catholic composition figure, this legislation will come to an end.”

But SDLP MLA Alex Attwood said the party would use the consultation to oppose the ending of 50/50.

“I regret that 50/50 is going, I wanted a balance which would mean over 40 per cent Catholic representation in the PSNI.

“Catholic representation could cap at around 30 per cent, which is not a representative police force.”

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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