The number of Roman Catholics who have applied to join the RUC following its latest recruitment drive is approaching 1,000, security sources have indicated.
The figure came to light following a meeting between the Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, and the Northern Ireland Unionist Party yesterday. In a media release issued afterwards, Assembly member Mr Norman Boyd said the Chief Constable said the RUC received 1,000 applications from within the Roman Catholic community to join the police service during its recent recruitment drive.
A spokesman for the RUC said they could not discuss confidential meetings hosted by the Chief Constable, but reliable security sources have strongly indicated the figure is more accurately described as "approaching 1,000".
An RUC spokesman said: "We can confirm that following the most recent recruitment campaign first advertised on November 30th, 1998, 22.3 per cent of the total applications received were from members of the Catholic community. This represents an increase of 7.1 per cent on the number of applications received in the previous campaign first advertised on March 16th, 1998 when 15.2 per cent of the total applications were from the Catholic community".