The number of Catholics seeking to join the RUC is at a record high, according to statistics issued yesterday. The RUC said the increase was due to the calmer political climate and its own campaigns.
A total of 22.3 per cent of the 3,359 applications made last year were from Catholics. Before the 1994 ceasefire, Catholics made up on average about 11 per cent of applicants. After the ceasefire that rose to 22 per cent, but fell back to around 14 per cent when the ceasefire broke down in February 1996.
It is not yet known how many new recruits will be taken from the 3,359 applicants, but 128 of the 2,792 applicants of 1997 were successful. Catholics currently make up less than 8 per cent of the 13,500-strong force.
The increased number of Catholic applicants was welcomed by the Ulster Unionist security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, who described it as significant but not surprising. "This is most encouraging for all of us and indicates what could be achieved in a peaceful society," he said.
However, the SDLP Assembly member for West Belfast, Mr Alex Attwood, said the issue was the number of nationalists, not the number of Catholics, in the RUC and insisted that nationalist confidence in the force was still low.