300 from Republic bid to join Northern police force
More than 300 people from the Republic have applied to join the new policing service in Northern Ireland, it was revealed today.
With the first 240 recruits to be chosen soon in preparation for the start of training next September, security minister Adam Ingram said 7,843 completed application forms had been returned.
No details of the religious backgrounds are available - an equal opportunities analysis has yet to be undertaken - but in a written House of Commons answer to a parliamentary question by the Ulster Unionist MP Mr John Taylor, Mr Ingram disclosed the breakdown of applicants coming from:
:: Northern Ireland 7,208
:: Irish Republic 332
:: Great Britain 262
:: Elsewhere 41
The British Government has spent an estimated £750,000 on an advertisement campaign for the new service which has yet to be endorsed by the main nationalist and republican parties in Northern Ireland, the SDLP and Sinn Fein.
The SDLP is under pressure to sign up to an all party board which will oversee the force.
But with 500 RUC officers having already left and arrangements in place for another 750 to go by next April under early retirement terms agreed as part of the Patten proposals, Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan has pressed ahead with the recruitment drive.
The first of the recruits are expected to be on the streets this time next year.
Mr Taylor’s parliamentary colleague, the Fermanagh-South Tyrone MP Ken Maginnis, said the numbers applying to join from the Republic did not surprise him.
He said: ‘‘The extent to which people from across national boundaries, and the traditional divide in Northern Ireland, are clamouring to join the RUC is a true reflection of the high regard most decent people within society here have for our police service.
‘‘Traditionally there has been a steady trickle of recruits from the Irish Republic, some of whom have reached very senior rank. It isn’t surprising that this trickle has become more substantial.‘‘
Secretary of State Dr John Reid said applicants from the Republic was a sign of confidence in the new force from outside the boundaries of Northern Ireland.
But Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness, the party’s chief negotiator, claimed a majority of nationalists and republicans were refusing to give it their backing.
