The policy of equal recruitment of Protestants and Catholics into the Police Service of Northern Ireland was upheld in the High Court in Belfast yesterday.
Mr Justice Kerr said the need to correct the religious imbalance in the police force was undeniable when he gave judgment in a legal challenge by a young Protestant whose application to join the force was turned down.
The judge said the need to correct the religious imbalance had been recognised for a long time, but earlier attempts to deal with it had foundered.
"It cannot seriously be disputed that a police force should be representative of the community that it serves," he said. "That had been recognised and endorsed by all the parties who supported the Belfast Agreement.
"That agreement had in turn been endorsed by 71 per cent of the voting population. These circumstances provide formidable support for a method of recruitment that would strike at the heart of the problem," the judge added.
A judicial review of the recruitment policy was applied for by 18-year-old Mr Mark Parsons, a Protestant from Bangor, whose application to join the PSNI was rejected even though he was included in the pool of qualified candidates. The Police Recruitment Branch had informed him that the Chief Constable must make appointments in equal numbers "based on the candidates' community background". The letter went on to explain that "those candidates from your community background who will be offered an appointment obtained a higher score during the selection process".
The SDLP welcomed the judgment, but the Ulster Unionists and the Alliance Party expressed disappointment.
An Ulster Unionist Assembly member, Dr Esmond Birnie, said the quota was discriminatory and could not be justified. The Alliance leader, Dr David Ford, described the judgment as disappointing. "If we are truly to make progress to a normal society, we have to get away from this concept that all our people are divided into two mutually antagonistic groups.
"Not everyone is either a unionist or a nationalist, a Catholic or a Protestant. Our greatest need is to see more bobbies on the beat, not to worry whether they are Protestants or Catholics."