on catholics, the police and everything

“Police Officers in Northern Ireland should be recruited on the basis of being the best person for the job. Nowhere else in the democratic world would have tolerated such discrimination for so long.”

If it wasn't so topical, it would be as easy to attribute the quote below to a modern Unionist as to a1960's civil rights protester. It is well known that there is no agreement on why the Patten Report which recommended increasing the number of Catholics in the PSNI was ever needed in the first place. However, if Tom Elliot's statement above does little to understand the rationale for reform, the Sinn Féin rebuke below does little to acknowledge that significant reform has been achieved.

"Here we have another patrician announcement by another absentee British Government minister"

The requirements set by the PSNI have meant that many students from integrated schools have joined the ranks. Surely this could be further encouraged as one means of creating that cohesive, shared and integrated society that we of course all crave.