The rejection of almost 250 non-Catholic applicants to join the police service in Northern Ireland has confirmed anti-Protestant bias, it was claimed tonight.
British security minister Ms Jane Kennedy revealed that the Chief Constable could not make offers to 245 candidates seeking to become recruits. None of them was Catholic.
Under the Patten recommendations for police reform in Northern Ireland an equal number of Protestants and Catholics have to be accepted as new recruits into the service.
But the east Derry Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell claimed applicants from his community were victims of an unfair procedure.
He said: "We are going to be faced with hundreds of people from the Protestant community who are suitably qualified being turned down, while every suitably qualified Roman Catholic is offered a post."
In a written parliamentary answer the minister said in the first recruitment competition, 419 candidates identified as non-Catholic and 173 identified at Catholic were found to be suitably qualified.
Mr Campbell said he had raised his concerns with the Equality Commission. He added: "It is absolutely essential that this reform becomes part of changes needed over the next 18 months to make a number of institutions acceptable to the unionist community."