Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Renewal of Temporary Provisions) Order 2010

My Lords, year on year I have spoken on how wrong I believe this order to be. As someone who believes passionately in equality, I think that it flies in the face of all my beliefs. I am not making a sectarian point, but I believe that people should be judged on their merits, not on their religion. In this order on recruitment, 50 per cent have to be Catholic and the other 50 per cent are termed non-Catholic. How is that fair, given that Northern Ireland has a growing ethnic community and many others who have no wish to have a religious tag at all? We also read that the Government are committed to achieving a representative police force in Northern Ireland from all community backgrounds. Surely this order means that the Government are guilty of discrimination in this instance. But we are where we are and I ask the Minister to give this House an assurance that this will be the last year that this House is asked to support such a poor order. The reason why I ask for this assurance is that, back in Northern Ireland, there is already talk afloat about extending the order for a future number of years until the PSNI has a 40 per cent Catholic intake. I would like to hear the Minister’s assurance on this.