The Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment are to disappear from Northern Ireland under the British government’s demilitarisation plans, it was confirmed today.

The Northern Ireland based units of the Royal Irish Regiment must be phased out as part of an overall agreement, Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness insisted today.

The Royal Irish Regiment will not be scrapped in Northern Ireland until all paramilitary violence has ended, British army chiefs insisted today.