A Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA) top presented to Chief Constable Matt Baggott. The Independent Commission into Policing in Northern Ireland (Patten) report recommended that the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Policing Board and Police Ombudsman should be fully representative of the entire community which according to the 2001 census was 46% Protestant and 40% Catholic. In 1998, only 8% of the RUC was Catholic. In order to quickly bolster Catholic recruitment, the Patten report advocated a recruitment profile of 50:50 over a ten year period. Recommendations such as a neutral working environment, a change of name, badge and oath were designed to remove any political associations with the organisation.

Patten called for Nationalists to participate in policing and for the GAA to repeal its rule 21, a century-old ban on members of the British security forces playing Gaelic games. In 2001, the GAA voted to remove rule 21 allowing members of the police in Northern Ireland to play Gaelic football and hurling. The PSNI GAA club was set up the following year and annually play the Garda team. In 2011, the PSNI team played at GAA headquarters at Croke Park. In August 2001, the Nationalist SDLP party joined the Policing Board followed by Sinn Féin in January 2007. By 2011, the percentage of Catholics in the PSNI had increased to 30.3%.