There was an interesting meeting recently between the tánaiste, Micheál Martin, and Superintendent Gerry Murray, the chairman of the Catholic Police Guild of Northern Ireland (CPG). The guild is an association of Catholic police men and women who serve in the PSNI.
The Irish News reported how there was reference to the influence of the GAA in encouraging or discouraging people from the nationalist and republican community from joining the police.
After the meeting the tánaiste said the police were not getting the support in the Catholic community that they needed and called on the GAA to be bolder in encouraging Catholics to join the PSNI and to follow through on the principles of Patten.
It should be noted than on the issue of recruitment, those principles get constantly misquoted. Patten recommended that the 50/50 recruitment method, which gave Catholics a slight advantage over others, should only last until Catholic representation reached 30% (where it is) and Patten’s report then challenged the nationalist, republican community to take ownership of bringing the Catholic recruitment to its proper representation.
It could be said that is what the tánaiste and the Catholic Police Guild were doing at and after the meeting. But I don’t know if Micheál Martin was aware of the slight irony in his call to the GAA, given that the next day Jarlath Burns was sworn in as president of the GAA.
In my sojourns, I had never seen anyone make as great an effort as Jarlath to reach out and build bridges of understanding with the police. And not just with the current police service but with those who care for the legacy of the RUC.
But Jarlath’s generosity and foresight does not negate Micheál Martin’s challenge, nor Gerry Murray’s aspiration. There is no denying that the Catholic community has been slow in embracing policing. The GAA and other manifestations of nationalism and republicanism, apart from the SDLP, have been timid in that aspect of the peace journey.
It is hard to recall any major initiatives by Irish governments down the years that spoke into this difficult issue, and it is unlikely that those young Catholics who joined the PSNI feel that the Irish government has had their back to the extent that they might have hoped for and expected. Sinn Féin’s first attendance at a passing out parade, 20 or more years after the PSNI came into being and 18 or more years after the party took their seats on the Policing Board, gives testimony to carefulness and self-protection of their electoral needs rather than policing needs.
Put the full weight of the Irish government, the GAA and Sinn Féin together in a concerted effort and the menaces of dissident republican groups, whose murder threats are the main reason for the low number of Catholics applying to join the police, would soon dissipate
Put the full weight of the Irish government, the GAA and Sinn Féin together in a concerted effort and the menaces of dissident republican groups, whose murder threats are the main reason for the low number of Catholics applying to join the police, would soon dissipate. Those groups are not psychopaths or sociopaths and are as subject to pressure as the rest of us.
- Denis Bradley: Young Catholic PSNI officers entitled to feel let down by their own communityOpens in new window
- Denis Bradley: PSNI has been a success story but would benefit from a light touch reviewOpens in new window
- Brian Feeney: There is much evidence that the PSNI is not a welcoming police service for CatholicsOpens in new window
Gerry Murray used the word ‘measured’ to describe the relationship between the police and the GAA. That is a disappointing word in the context of the community influence of the GAA. Given the hate-filled history of our Troubles, the historical imbalance of religious and gender membership, and the continuing threats from an ever-shrinking dissident republican grouping, it is easy to make excuses and to rationalise failure.
It must be admitted that the leadership and the oversight structures of policing in recent years have not covered themselves in glory. But that criticism can be levelled at other police services on these islands. If it is the guidance and the ethos of Patten that we follow, then the power and the effectiveness of policing requires constant attention. But at the core of the Patten Report was the insight that policing was too important to be left to the police. Policing is the business of the whole community.
