There are no republicans or nationalists among the 2,700 Catholics who have applied to join the new Police Service of Northern Ireland, according to Mr Gerry Adams.
The Sinn Fein president yesterday commented on the announcement by RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan that over a third of applicants were Catholic. Of the 7,843 applications submitted, 35 per cent, or around 2,745 people, were Catholic. Recruitment must be by a religious ratio of 50/50 Catholics and Protestants in accordance with the Patten Report.
Thirty-six per cent of all women applicants are Catholic, while 35 per cent of male applicants are Catholic. Overall, women comprised 40 per cent of the total applicants. Mr Adams said Catholics "of a certain kind" had always been members of the RUC.
"The question is not whether Catholics are part of the new police force, it's whether republicans or nationalists are joining the service. I'm quite certain that none of these applicants are republicans or nationalists," he said.
The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, welcomed the figures. He said he was confident equal recruitment would be met: "The figures suggest to me that young people are having the courage to look to the future."
However, he stressed "the final pieces of the jigsaw" on the policing issue needed to be agreed.
The SDLP and Sinn Fein have demanded additional concessions from the British government on policing, including legislative amendments to enhance the powers of the policing boards.
"I am very pleased that we are now pretty sure that we will get 50/50. Of course that means we will have to redouble our efforts on all other fronts to bridge the gaps that remain on policing," said Dr Reid.
Mr Ian Paisley jnr of the DUP said the new recruitment procedures discriminated against Protestants.
"I'm quite happy that people want to join the police force but I think any decent person would resent that these recruits will get an extra leg-up because of their religious faith," he said.
The selection process is expected to be completed by September.
Sir Ronnie will then select 260 recruits from a pool of qualified applicants.