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Is it right that catholics in Northern Ireland should work for the PSNI or MI5?

• Is it right that catholics in Northern Ireland should work for the PSNI or MI5? The PSNI and MI5 advertise in Northern Ireland and welcome Catholic applicants to work for them however is it right that they should advertise for Catholics to work for their services because it would be so dangerous for someone from the Catholic community. Catholic PSNI officers have been targetted and killed in Northern Ireland by Oglaigh na hEireann which is constantly targeting and planning attacks on people from the catholic side of the community working for the PSNI, Army or MI5. They say the intelligence gathering capability of Oglaigh na hEireann is strong and they are able to target anyone working for security services in Northern Ireland very easily because they secretly have a lot of support in catholic area's even though people their pretend that they don't support Oglaigh na hEireann. Surely this is neglegent of the PSNI or MI5 to advertise and allow Catholics to join these services knowing that they could be killed or injured. Surely it would be better for the PSNI and MI5 to only allow for protestants to work for the PSNI or MI5 because they are safer in their communities and get respected by their protestant communities for working for the PSNI and MI5 instead of being targeted and potentially killed. I know they it is because by employing catholics it makes it more fair and a cross community police but in this day and age the PSNI would do just as professional a job whether it was Catholic or Protestant and to be honest I would prefer a protestant PSNI because I know at least they are respected by their own community for the job they instead of being targeted.

• Answer:

  It's actually a myth to say that Catholic officers are being specifically targeted by dissident republicans. There is no evidence that this is the case. The Chief Constable has stated as much. Constable Carroll was murdered while on duty and was simply a body in a uniform that came into the murderer's crosshairs. There is no evdience to suggest that Constable Kerr was murdered because he was a Catholic and in fact the DRs have categorically stated that their enemies are the crown forces and that religion doesn't come into it. The fact of the matter is, when you become a police officer, you become a target for these people. If you have the guts to do it, you apply. If not, don't apply. There are great dangers in a number of professions eg Fire Brigade. If you don't think it's worth the risk, look for a job elsewhere. Terrorists (especially DRs) are cowards. They choose the target that gives them the greatest chance of success and the greatest chance a clean getaway. It's as simple as that. It is up to an officer to minimise the risk to themselves by being security savvy. A lot of Catholics in the police due to recent recruitment are young, inexperienced officers (easier targets) and perhaps some aren't able to make a break from their previous social connections and routines as they should and as other officers have had to do during the Troubles when things were much, much worse. Did members of the Protestant community refuse to join because of the very real danger of being targeted for assassination? No. Thank the Lord that they had the courage to stand up to murderers in our society when there's so many others who wouldn't.