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Explaining his action, Lord Laird said that the 50/50 rule which has been in place for the past four years has discriminated against both Roman Catholics and non-Roman Catholics. “Most recruitment campaigns were unfair to non-Roman Catholics, but at least one discriminated against Roman Catholics. The religion of an applicant is not the issue. If he or she is qualified for the job, he or she should get it. To do anything else is to diminish people’s human rights”, said Lord Laird.

“How can an organisation designed to uphold the law have its recruitment based on an infringement of long-accepted human rights principles. I know very many well-qualified young people who are totally disillusioned by their being refused entry to the PSNI only because they were the wrong religion”.

“Over and above the human rights issue, 50/50 recruitment has not been very successful. The number of female recruits has increased without reverse discrimination and instead by targeting that area. So if society wants, rightly, to increase the number of Roman Catholics in the police, why does the same approach not work in that case?”

“It is interesting to note that such legislation as the original Act to allow for 50/50 recruitment could never have been passed by the Unionist government at Stormont. The Northern Ireland Parliament was governed by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which meant that any action which discriminated against anyone or any organisation on the ground of religion was null and void. To get the Bill onto the Northern Ireland Statute Book in 1998, the Government of Ireland Act had to be repealed”.

“I have been interested in testing the 50/50 rule in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and would still hope to do so. The correct circumstances have not yet become available. I would like anyone who feels that they were financially disadvantaged by 50/50 to write to me at the Lords in London”.