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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

There is a small element of that, but it is a price worth paying for getting a first-class service that is representative of all communities. The figures show that 3,879 suitably qualified candidates were rejected, but only 440 to 540 were rejected because of 50:50, depending on which tranche it was. It was nothing to do with whether the applicants were Catholic or Protestant. Following over-subscription by highly qualified young people from our community, those numbers of suitably qualified candidates did not get positions because there simply were not the positions for them. A small element of that may have been discriminatory against Protestants.