Chai Brady
Photo: Wikimedia Commons Only 24% of new recruits to the PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland) have come from a Catholic background according to the latest statistics.
Catholic officers
The figures demonstrate ongoing problems hiring Catholic officers. Of the 193 officers recruited in 2020, only 46 were Catholic while 144 (75%) were protestant.
The PSNI has stated a commitment to increasing the number of Catholic officers. The new figures were released as the PSNI launch a new recruitment drive on the week it marks 20 years since it was established.
Currently Catholic officers make up 32% of the force, which is largely due to legislation that ran for 10 years until 2011 which saw a huge increase in Catholic recruits. The legislation pushed for the equal recruitment of Catholics and Protestants to the police force, or 50-50 recruitment.
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland Eamon Martin has often encouraged Catholics to join the PSNI, saying before the 2020 recruitment drive “…if we do not have a police service which is representative of the society that it polices, you immediately begin to run into accusations that the police service is not friendly to Catholic people, or you allow a vacuum to be created which allows others to exploit intimidation and fear in communities”.