Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Renewal of Temporary Provisions) Order 2007

As has already been said about the 50:50 rule, I can remember when full employment was put into Northern Ireland, back in the 1970s. I was a shop steward within the trade union movement, and it was a very difficult time. None the less, it was worked out, and today employers in Northern Ireland have a rule they live by. I have never quite understood why the police force had to be sectarianised in this way. I had two friends from a Roman Catholic family who joined the police, and both were murdered by the IRA. Why did religion have to be the thing? All my life I have fought for people getting jobs on merit. I am a great believer in equality, so I cannot get my head round why we are looking at having this law in place for another three years when we are told on all sides that Northern Ireland is entering a new world and everything is different, with the PSNI going forward with legislation, and women and people from ethnic minorities joining the force. I cannot understand why we still have to do this because back in Northern Ireland this is looked on simply as a sectarian issue. Many previous speakers mentioned that they had been approached by young people. As many Members of the Committee know, I live along a peace line and a number of Roman Catholic families have told me that their kids cannot join the force because of the 50:50 rule. They fitted all the criteria but they could not join the force. So it works both ways. In the light of what Sinn Fein has done and what the noble Lord, Lord Kilclooney, said, and if it has all been accepted, I do not really see why we are pursuing this measure for another three years. I find this very difficult. I have never understood why there are only two derogations on Northern Ireland in European law, one concerns the police and the other education—two major pillars in building a new Northern Ireland and yet they are the two areas in which we can discriminate.