THE BRITISH army is embarking on a recruitment drive in Northern Ireland which could see up to 100 people from the Republic enlisting, according to the senior recruiting officer in the North.
Lieut Col Dick Rafferty of the Royal Irish Regiment said that the numbers joining the British army from the South are increasing steadily and that, in the next intake of 500 soldiers, up to 20 per cent could be from the Republic.
The British army cannot advertise for recruits in the Republic but ads in the Northern media allied to “word of mouth” inevitably would see a large number of applicants from the Republic, he said in Belfast yesterday.
Lieut Col Rafferty, who has Donegal connections, said recruits from the island of Ireland tended to be superior to those enlisting in Britain. Some 26-40 per cent of British recruits did not make the grade under training, compared to just 15-18 per cent of Irish recruits.
He said more people from a Catholic/nationalist background were joining up.
