Statement

WEIR CALLS FOR END TO 50:50 POLICE RECRUITMENT 

Posted on: March 8, 2010

Speaking in the NI Assembly debate on the subject “I am delighted to be one of the proposers of this motion calling for the end of the discriminatory 50:50 recruitment scheme for entry to the PSNI. I believe that it is fundamentally wrong that jobs are decided on the basis of the perception of what church you go to on a Sunday rather than purely on merit. I have always been opposed to this form of discrimination and welcome its proposed ending in March 2011. It has created a deep feeling of resentment amongst many of my constituents in North Down, who have failed to obtain a career in the police, not through their own inability but because they come from the wrong community. It is to the credit of many of these young people that they have reapplied several times until they were successful. 

This form of institutionalised discrimination is also a burden to be endured for young Catholic officers, who carry the weight of perception that they may not have got their job on their own merits, but owe in part their entry to weighted discrimination. It is clear that this measure was unnecessary as the main reason why there was imbalance in the police was because of the direct attacks on Catholic officers by republican terrorists, a fact that was shown by the almost doubling in Catholic recruits in the first year of the ceasefire. The bravery of recent recruits has been shown by their willingness to stand up to the threats of dissident republicans. 

Thus for the entire community, Protestant, Catholic or other there is everything to be gained from the level playing field of untampered recruitment from 2011 onwards. The removal of these quotas will also cut massively the cost of the recruitment process, with the savings being able to be directed towards fighting crime.  

The SDLP and Sinn Fein often preach to the rest of us on the virtues of equality, and so it is disappointing, but not surprising that on this issue, that they do not practise what they preach. Indeed the SDLP in particular wish to retain this clear form of discrimination and inequality for years to come. Thankfully, my own party has long opposed this and successfully lobbied the Government at St Andrews to bring about the end of 50:50, and we look forward to its abolition in the next 12 months.”