THE RUC constable did not welcome Catholics joining the force. "There's too many of them," he said.

"Where I work, it's as if every sergeant or inspector you get now is a f***ing Fenian. They seem to be running the show. They are taking over. There's loads of Protestants who are not getting promotion because of their religion. Whereas, if you were a Fenian, they'd do anything to keep you sweet."

The interview with the officer was one of 80 contained in a PhD thesis by Graham Ellison, a University of Ulster student. It will be published shortly. Twenty of the officers who took part in the study were above the rank of inspector. Both Catholics and Protestants were interviewed.

The interviews were taped, although the officers have remained anonymous in the report.

Mr Ellison found many Protestant officers harboured deep seated sectarian attitudes towards their Catholic colleagues. They felt that Catholic recruits were "lifted and laid" by senior officers.

A detective constable said: "They have this thing about Catholics at the minute. They just can't get enough of them. It doesn't matter whether they think they are going to make good policemen."

The RUC is 7 per cent Catholic. But, according to the study many Protestant officers believed their Catholic colleagues played the "green card" to get promoted. They thought Catholics received preferential treatment. One said: "If you are sick and take a lot of leave, they [Catholics] would have a friendly chat with their inspector whereas I would get the arse chewed off me.

Mr Ellison, a Protestant, said his religion allowed him a deeper penetration of the RUC. Officers were more forthright. "It often emerged that some respondents would not have agreed to be interviewed had I not been a Protestant," he said. "It was stressed however, that this was for reasons of personal security and had nothing to do with bigotry."

Catholics spoke of the change of lifestyle involved in joining the force which oft en further alienated them from their community. Many found it difficult to visit their families. One had a cousin in the IRA.

These policemen often felt that they had to conform to the force's dominant Protestant ethos and underplay their Catholicism. "Certainly, I would never mention going to Mass or a Gaelic match on a Sunday when I'm off," one said.

ANOTHER felt uncomfortable discussing politics. "I'd maybe feel afraid that I would say the wrong thing or that I was drawing attention to myself," he said. A sergeant said many of the trappings of the force, such as the oath of allegiance to the British monarchy, flying the Union flag and playing God Save The Queen, could never be questioned.

"It's probably better to keep, your head down and say nothing, he added. However, other officers said they had a good relationship with their colleagues and that any banter was fairly innocuous.

One said it was inevitable that policemen could not have nationalist aspirations: "The force is geared up to unionism. I don't mean unionist with a big U but in a general sense. That is not a criticism. It's just the way it is. All police forces are there to uphold the government of a country and the RUC is no different."

A Protestant sergeant said most police officers didn't vote. A constable said even those with strong political views laid them aside: "Whenever you put on the uniform, you switch off. You are like a robot."

He said officers had tried to comfort a leading IRA man when his brother was shot dead. Some RUC men said the force had become more neutral in recent years. One pointed to the criticism it had taken from unionists over the Anglo Irish Agreement and rerouting of Orange marches.

It angered him when nationalist politicians accused the RUC of bigotry. However, other officers had strong loyalist views. One complained that Catholics got a great deal out of Northern Ireland yet all they want to do is stab it in the back at every opportunity".

Another said he didn't have any Catholic friends. "I have nothing against them as people, but could they be trusted? You have what would call the sweet Catholic, the ones that are nice to your face but you never know what they could be doing or saying behind your back. They say it's the sweet ones you need to watch."

This officer spoke of nationalist homes always being dirty. "Like up in Andersonstown, some of the houses, you would just not believe the state of them. They are filthy. In the Shankill Road, you will always find the houses clean, nice wee gardens and stuff like that."

One officer said he would not want any political settlement to contain a Sinn Fein or Dublin aspect - that would mean the IRA had won. Another vehemently opposed the Anglo Irish Agreement: "To allow Dublin a say in governing the country is all wrong. The majority of policemen had bad feelings about it, too."

IT was claimed that while "yer man Hume" and Dublin were consulted about Northern politics, things were always done behind unionist backs. Some officers were clearly uncomfortable confronting loyalists.

"Take these marches that has all blown up because a few of these residents' groups, or whatever they are called, don't want the Orangemen parading through their area, a policeman said. "Those marches have been going on for years and there has never been any trouble. Those groups are stirring up trouble and we are stuck in the middle of it."

Another officer feared a serious confrontation between unionists and the RUC. "I hope it never happens. If it does there will be no RUC worth talking about. I don't think too many members of the force could cope with that kind of situation, he said.

Stressing the difficulty of policing loyalist dissent, a constable said: "Some of those guys could be your next door neighbour or best friend."

Several officers who had been at Drumcree said the RUC Chief Constable Sir Hugh Annesley, had been wrong originally to ban the march.

"I totally, totally disagreed with what we were asked to do and I can tell you now that there were many more like me," one said. He believed that if Sir Hugh had not reversed his decision, there could have been mass disaffection. Many policemen "would have just got up and left went home".

But one officer, worried about his family who lived in a loyalist area, was highly critical of Mr David Trimble who, he said, had stirred things up. Most of the policemen said Drumcree had been "a nightmare" for them.

A Catholic officer said the decision to allow the Orangemen to march down the Garvaghy Road was a disaster for the force.

Mr Ellison said it was difficult to see how the RUC could realistically tackle loyalist violence in such a way that it won the confidence of nationalists.

Only one policeman had been killed by loyalists he said, and most officers shared the same ideological goals as loyalists maintenance of the Northern state.