CATHOLICS NOW comprise more than 26 per cent of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, security minister Paul Goggins told MPs yesterday.
The “huge change” – from just 8 per cent Catholic membership of the RUC when the Patten commission reported almost 10 years ago – takes the British government within sight of Patten’s 30 per cent target, at which point Mr Goggins confirmed the current “50-50” recruitment rule will be dispensed with. The minister was replying to DUP MP Gregory Campbell’s contention that “merit” should be the sole factor in recruitment of police personnel.
Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward, meanwhile, has warned Conservative and unionist MPs that they might regret any attempt to cap legal costs in any future inquiries in Northern Ireland.
He was replying to Sir Patrick Cormack after the disclosure that the cost of the Saville inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday stood at £188 million at the end of May.
While ministers would be equally keen to bear down on legal costs, Mr Woodward cautioned Sir Patrick that attempts to do so in some future context could result in an unintended loss of necessary independence.
That argument between cost and entitlement to proper legal representation is likely to feature in the British government’s recently announced consultation on the Eames-Bradley proposals for dealing with the legacy of the past.
Conservative shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson, meanwhile, welcomed the recent decommissioning of loyalist weapons as “a highly significant development”.