The Northern Ireland Executive will not be allowed to set quotas for the recruitment of Catholics to the Police Service of Northern Ireland when policing and justice are devolved next month.
Lords leader, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, said the controversial power, under the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, to set temporary recruitment targets of 50 percent Catholics was not being devolved.
"But general police recruitment will be a matter for the devolved government to consider," Lady Royall, who speaks on Northern Ireland matters in the Lords, said.
The policy which resulted from Lord Patten of Barnes' review of the then Royal Ulster Constabulary, aimed to increase Catholic representation in the police service from 8.3 percent in 2001 to a new target of 30 percent.
Asking peers to renew the provisions for a 10th and final year, Lady Royall said the proportion was 27.88 percent at the start of last month. She was confident the 30 percent target would be reached in the coming year.
If 30 percent was reached before the end of March next year, she said, the UK Parliament would be asked to end the provisions "immediately".
Lady Royall added, "If it is not reached by then, my Lords, it is not reached; because this is the final Order."
The Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Renewal of Temporary Provisions) Order, which was debated by a committee of MPs on 3 March, was then approved without a vote.
Last month the SDLP in Northern Ireland warned that the 50:50 recruitment scheme for Catholics and Protestants entering the police service must continue if balance is to be brought to a force which has historically been dominated by the Protestant community.
In a submission to the British government on the issue, a spokesman for the nationalist party warned that in the absence of positive discrimination it would take 30 years for Catholic population levels to be reflected among officers, or among police support staff, where Catholic numbers currently lie at 17.7 percent.
The SDLP's Alex Attwood, cited the 2001 census which put the Protestant community at 53 percent and the Catholic community at 44 percent.
"Given this evidence and the declared need for balance, the SDLP strongly recommends that 50:50 continue for both police officer and police support jobs," he said.
(Source: PA)
