1.  This Order may be cited as the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Renewal of Temporary Provisions) Order 2004 and shall come into force on 29th March 2004.

2.  The “temporary provisions” of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, as defined in section 47(1) of that Act, which are in force on 29th March 2004 shall continue in force for the period beginning 30th March 2004 and ending 28th March 2007.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Under section 47(1) of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”), the following provisions are “the temporary provisions”:

(a)Article 40A of the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/869 (N.I. 6));

(b)Article 71A of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (S.I. 1998/3162 (N.I. 21));

(c)section 44(5) to (7) of the 2000 Act;

(d)section 45 of the 2000 Act;

(e)section 46 of the 2000 Act.

In the case of police trainees and police support staff the temporary provisions require the Chief Constable to appoint from a pool of qualified candidates, an even number of candidates one half of whom are to be persons treated as Roman Catholic and one half persons not so treated (“50:50 recruitment”). The temporary provisions also allow the Chief Constable and the Board to make appointments of police officers from suitably qualified external candidates.

Under section 47(2) of the 2000 Act the temporary provisions expire on the third anniversary of the commencement date of section 47. Section 47 was commenced on 30th March 2001 by the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2001 (S.R. 2001/132). This Order continues in force the temporary provisions for a period of three years from the coming into operation of this Order.