Martin: Sinn Fein could do more to urge Catholics to join police north of border

Sinn Féin could do more to encourage Catholics to join the police in Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach has said.

Micheál Martin expressed concern that the momentum to make the religious balance of the PSNI’s workforce more reflective of the community north of the border has been lost.

Mr Martin was commenting as he became the first taoiseach to attend a passing out ceremony for new PSNI recruits in Belfast on Friday.

The event came at the end of a week that marked the 25th anniversary of the PSNI, which replaced the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 2001 as part of peace process policing reforms.

Catholic representation in the RUC was around 8% when the force was succeeded by the PSNI.

The new organisation hired on the basis of 50:50 recruitment in its first 10 years, with one Catholic recruit for every one person from a Protestant or other background.

While the number of Catholics rose markedly across that time, their representation has plateaued since and currently sits at close to 31%, despite the overall proportion of Catholics within the population of Northern Ireland being around 46%.

The ongoing threat posed by dissident republicans, who have proactively targeted Catholic police officers in the past, has been one factor cited in discouraging Catholics from signing up.

Speaking to reporters after the attestation ceremony at the PSNI college in east Belfast, Mr Martin was asked about the stalling efforts to increase Catholic representation in the PSNI and whether he thought nationalist political parties in Northern Ireland, such as Sinn Féin and the SDLP, the Catholic Church, organisations like the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and his own government could do more to encourage young Catholics to join the police.

“We should be doing much more to encourage,” said the Taoiseach.

“The Irish government is, and I’m open to working with the British government and the Garda, the PSNI, to see can we come up with more innovative, novel ways in terms of recruitment and retention.

“I think everyone in the community should. You name it, all the political parties, community groups, church should be unequivocal and should be loud in their encouragement and urging people to consider a career in policing, because I think younger generations have moved on. Of that, I’m certain. But they need leadership from older generations too.

“They need acceptance, toleration, but above all encouragement.”

Mr Martin said he could not understand why some were reluctant to ensure the recommendations made in the Patten report that led to the creation of the PSNI were followed through.

“I find it very difficult to comprehend why certain elements of the nationalist community wouldn’t be absolutely working flat out to ensure the success of Patten, which is a more varied PSNI that would be reflective of the entire community.

“Makes no sense to me that we there was huge advocacy at the time for transformation, for change. Patten laid out the template. The logical follow through should be to follow through on Patten’s recommendations and make it happen.

“And to a certain degree, the reticence and the people being too equivocal in many ways about it has resulted in perhaps the momentum being lost that we saw in earlier years.”

Mr Martin was then specifically asked if he believed Sinn Féin could be doing more to encourage Catholics to join the PSNI.

“I do,” he replied.

“When I met the Catholic Guild (in the PSNI), I was particularly struck by them because they didn’t feel that sense of support. That’s all I can say to you. That’s their perspective and not mine.

“They felt that ordinarily they get the phone calls, they get to go to a particular scene, a burglary or crime or whatever, and they would get local praise.

“But they don’t get the same sense that that’s consistent in the public domain as they would like it to be, and I think it could be.”

Mr Martin was then asked whether the fact no taoiseach had attended a passing out ceremony in the 25 years since the PSNI’s establishment, until Friday, was evidence that the Irish government needed to do more to show support.

He said he did not believe that was a “fair assessment”, noting that the Government had offered support in other ways in that period.

Mr Martin was joined by Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant and PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher as they watched 36 new recruits participate in the attestation ceremony on Friday.

Afterwards, Mr Boutcher said there was a need for “clear and unequivocal support” for the PSNI as a career choice.

“And for people to see it as a career of choice, and for their families and their communities who might feel that policing shouldn’t be for them, that they need to rethink that position,” he said.

“Everybody calls this police service when they’re in trouble. Everybody. And we turn up and whatever the background, the religion, the culture of the person that called us. We deal with them in the most professional, careful and humble way to keep them safe, to problem solve.”

Sir Chris said he hoped for a time when recruits were just referred to as “people” rather by their religious domination.

He added: “But of course, if the PSNI is going to do its job for the whole community, it’s got to have the whole community in the PSNI.

“So I would say to everybody in the nationalist community, and to every community, and to people who are not affiliated at all, do think hard about persuading people that you know, who you know would be good as police officers, to think about a career here. It’s a fantabulous career. It’s a real possibility for you.

“And to those families who worry about it, please don’t. Those days are past. The modern PSNI is something for the whole of society, and we need to make sure that it represents the whole of society.”