A British parliamentary committee is expected to recommend today that recruits to the RUC be prevented from having membership of "restrictive" or secret organisations such as the Orange Order and the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The report, by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, is also to recommend that the flying of the Union flag from RUC stations on July 12th be stopped.
These two recommendations were seized on by unionists as a discriminatory and an infringement of human rights but the SDLP Chief Whip and committee member, Mr Eddie McGrady, pointed out there were other restrictions on police - such as membership of a trade union - and this potential infringement of rights had attracted no critical attention in the North.
The committee has been reviewing the "composition, training and recruitment" in the RUC over the past year. It is one of three such reviews. The Northern Ireland Office last year set up a review of the force, and earlier this year the British government announced the establishment of the International Commission, under Mr Chris Patten.
Issues which have been central to all three reviews are the religious imbalance which sees Catholic representation at less than 8 per cent and lack of support among the nationalist community.
The committee did not set out to specifically examine the issues of imbalance and acceptance in the community but membership of secretive organisations for recruits and the flying of the flag became important and divisive issues.
It is understood three Unionist members, Mr Roy Beggs, Mr Peter Robinson and Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, objected to the final recommendations on the two items and did not support the final report.
Mr Donaldson, the dissident Ulster Unionist MP for Lagan Valley who opposed the Belfast Agreement, said at the weekend the proposal to introduce restrictions on Orange Order membership and to restrict the flying of the Union flag were "infringements of civil liberties". A Belfast Unionist councillor, Mr Nelson McCausland, said: "The proposed ban contravenes both the equality agenda, which is supposed to underlie the Belfast Agreement, and the government's present commitment to policy appraisal and I am sure that if the government proceeds it will be challenged.
"There are many serious questions that need to be asked about this matter and the government will have to provide answers.
"For example, will this ban extend to other exclusively Roman Catholic and secret organisations such as the Knights of St Columbanus and Opus Dei?"
The Orange Order's Strategy Committee member, Mr David McNarry, said the Order was "under attack all the time" and the proposal on barring recruits from Order membership was an assault on human rights.
However, Mr McGrady said: "While it is only this small, if emotive, part of the report which has been picked up by Unionist politicians and the Orange Order, the flying of the flag on the Twelfth of July is one-sided.
"Membership of new recruits, who belong to one-denominational bodies like the Orange Order or Ancient Order of Hibernians could impinge on the image of the force. I accept that this could be regarded as an infringement on human rights. But, in these circumstances human rights may have to be circumscribed for the greater good of the community.
"The Northern Ireland Police Bill prohibits police constables from membership of trades unions. There was no outcry from the Orange Order though this was done because the RUC and gardai have a special relationship with the community and state.
The Sinn Fein Assembly member, Ms Bairbre de Bruin, said the acceptance by the committee that the RUC would not be disbanded and replaced by a new force meant its report was "deeply flawed".
She added: "Should the same approach be taken by the Independent Commission on Policing set up as a result of the (Belfast) Agreement then the commission and the agreement will have failed in the critical task of creating `a new police service that can enjoy widespread support from and is seen as an integral part of the community as a whole'."
The report will be launched this morning at Stormont by its chairman, the former Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Brooke.