PSNI Catholic recruitment falls to new low, at just 17% last year
There are concerns that legacy and the threat from dissident republicans is deterring Catholics
Catholic recruitment to the PSNI fell drastically last year, with 2024 marking a record low for the force which replaced the RUC.
Catholic representation among new recruits has been declining in recent years but it can now be revealed that the pattern is getting worse.
A Freedom of Information request obtained by The Irish News shows that Catholics made up 26.8% of new recruits in 2021 and 21.8% of recruits in 2022.
This was followed by an increase in 2023 to 25.6% of new recruits.
However, the figure dipped by 8.5 percentage points in 2024 with Catholics making up just 17.1% of new hires.
In 1999, the Patten Report found that just 8.3% of the RUC was made up of Catholics.
This figure increased after the former police force was disbanded and replaced by the PSNI in 2001 and a 50:50 hiring policy was introduced.
The initiative meant that the PSNI had to recruit a Catholic officer for every Protestant that they recruited – and led to a surge in Catholic recruitment.
However, the 50:50 scheme was disbanded in 2011 following calls from unionist politicians.
The high levels of Catholic recruitment during this era are now reflected on the streets as the PSNI is currently made up of around 32% Catholic officers.
However, the current decline in Catholic recruitment will bring concerns that this percentage will fall as the initial PSNI joiners start to retire.
The recruitment trend is mirrored by those openly identifying as nationalist within the force.
Just 3.8% of new recruits in 2024 openly identified at nationalist – the lowest number since 2020.
Last month, The Irish News revealed that just over one in every five police officers recruited in Northern Ireland in the past five years is from a Catholic background with just 6.8% openly nationalist.
The PSNI recruited 1,377 officers in total between 2020 and the end of March 2025.
Of the officers recruited during that period, 76.3% came from a Protestant background, while just 21.6% from a Catholic background.
The PSNI has been contacted for comment.
by vague_intentionally_
10 comments
I know a few that joined up years ago. Still dont understand what they were thinking, even though they are all doing well in terms of promotion etc.
Never in a million years. For a million reasons
OK genuine question- I get some of the old RUC cops will still be there but what tangible reasons are there for so little catholics signing up?
Is it just a legacy of mistrust as opposed to real evidence crappy stuff happens to catholics specifically once they sign up?
Ironically, I know more Guards than people in the PSNI, and i’ve lived here my full life.
We see our unionist friends growing up and having an easy ride into the police force as some type of family heirloom. I’m not even mad, its just their parents trying to give them an opportunity like most parents wish to do. The UK, naturally enough, prefers having a loyal police force. All the excuses in the world will not change the fact that its designed to be like this.
I hope my unionist friends understand my aspirations of wanting a representative Irish police force (with you included). That does seem pretty far off currently, but I am forced to have that position and I hope that one day you can be convinced that this would work better for everyone.
I think what gets overlooked in these statistical breakdowns is the demographics of the recruitment-aged population (generally 21-35 year olds): that Catholics comprise a majority of that age bracket but only 17% of PSNI recruits is genuinely shocking.
This revelation coupled with the Orange Order’s judicial trump card over the A5 upgrade shows that Northern Ireland institutionally is incapable of reform.
That percentage would be lower if you discount the number of young Gardaí on desk jobs, there to bump up the numbers
Idea:
Let the Gardaí set up and train Northern Ireland officers who know British law. They may have general recruitment problems, but they don’t harbour the same prejudices and stigmas between Protestant/Catholics.
Would this work or nah?
Realistically it’s gonna take another generation or more to reconcile the police with the Catholic/nationalist populous. Too much history, living history at that, generational trauma is a real thing and not considered enough when we talk about these things and then the fact there’s large swaths of that demographic you’ll just never fully reach, with all the oppression and what not you’ve also decades of anti state indoctrination and social conditioning.
But that’s all beside the fact there is also practically no incentive at all to join the PSNI. For either side.
I mean think about it, it’s a totally thankless job, no matter what you do you’ll be perceived as a bastard by somebody, you’ll risk injury and death every day, you’ll be pelted with bricks every summer and spat on, you’ll probably have a long commute twice a day, unsocial hours, and constantly have to look over your shoulder and essentially lead a double life, yes even today. One wrong move or credible threat and that’s you having to uproot your whole life and move.
So why would anyone want to join the PSNI.
I would love to know the stat for the drop in Protestant recruits and those that don’t identify with either. I’d imagine the overall level of recruitment is down.
I know people from both sides who joined in the last 3 years and all left saying it was an awful job. Shifts terrible, having to travel, lack of support, and very clicky.
Rebranded RUC still acting like the old model — This time with a different badge and PR team.
17% Catholic recruitment in 2024? That’s not just a ‘dip’, that’s the result of years of tolerating loyalist bigotry, internal sectarianism, and a total failure to build real trust in nationalist communities.
You can’t keep sweeping legacy issues under the rug, turning a blind eye to Loyalist antics, and expect young Catholics to sign up for a force that still feels like it answers to one side. The mask slipped when the 50:50 hiring stopped and surprise — the numbers plummeted. It’s not a pipeline problem, it’s a credibility crisis.
Take down the RUC memorials in the police stations you might get more joining
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