Sinn Fein has seized on reports that there will be a shortfall in recruiting Catholics to the North's police service as evidence that nationalists are not satisfied with plans for reform of policing, writes Paul Tanney, in Belfast.
Mr Gerry Kelly MLA said an internal report, shown to the Belfast Telegraph and indicating that there would be a shortfall, was proof that while "some Catholics have chosen to apply to join the proposed policing service as it currently sits, nationalists and republicans have not".
Recruits to the service will be recruited in groups of 264. The intakes will be made up of 132 Catholic and 132 non-Catholic recruits, taken from a pool of acceptable applicants.
The internal report suggested a scenario where there would be six fewer Catholics than were needed in next April's pool and 18 fewer the following year.
The Consensia Partnership, which is running the recruitment process for the RUC, said the scenario had been drawn up before the SDLP, Irish Government and Catholic Church had voiced their support for the new service.