POLICE RECRUITMENT IN NORTHERN IRELAND

That this House notes the continuing implementation of the so called 50/50 rule in recruitment to the police in Northern Ireland which has disadvantaged thousands of young people from the Protestant community; also notes that according to the provisions under which this discriminatory practice was introduced 2010 is scheduled to be the last full calendar year in which this reprehensible and indefensible piece of legislation will be in force; and calls upon the Government, in light of the consistently high application ratio of Roman Catholics for the police irrespective of these provisions, to dispense with the current system, and bring forward the non-discriminatory merit principle system as a matter of the utmost urgency to offer fairness and impartiality to every section of the community in Northern Ireland irrespective of religious belief.