MLA for North Antrim Mervyn Storey has spoken on behalf of the DUP in stating that the party would not be supporting the return of 50/50 recruitment to the PSNI.
Speaking to BBC News NI, the MLA said;
“50/50 recruitment institutionalised sectarian discrimination. It won’t be coming back.”
The suggestion of a return of 50/50 recruitment was suggested to encourage more catholic recruits. Currently only 1 in 5 catholics are recruited on the ‘merit’ based system currently in place.
Mervyn Storey went on to say that;
“Any recruitment of any member of the PSNI has to be based on merit not on their religion.
Under no circumstances would we (DUP) be accepting the return of 50/50 recruitment.”
Even tho the return of this type of recruitment has not been confirmed, the deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin also hasn’t ruled it out saying;
“I would encourage people with influence within the Catholic community to encourage and advocate for people in this community to step forward and apply to join the PSNI.
If that does not happen and our Catholic success rate were to continue as in the last few campaigns, it would be inevitable that in future years you might start to see the Catholic composition of the organisation fall.
That would be unacceptable and I think in those circumstances all options would need to be considered.”
