LOYALIST killer Torrens Knight was a double agent shielded by the Special Branch before he murdered eight people in the Greysteel massacre, SDLP Assembly member John Dallat claimed yesterday.

The British government faced demands for an inquiry today into the passing on of information about 400 republicans in Belfast, including Gerry Adams, to loyalist paramilitaries.

An Ulster Unionist Party assembly member is planning to hand back his British military service medal in protest at the partial disbandment of the Royal Irish Regiment.

The annual conference of the Ulster Unionist Party is on-going in the North.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be pressed today on his plans for moving the Northern peace process forward amid concerns from the SDLP that he may water down the Good Friday Agreement.

The British government tonight faced demands to agree a £200m (€296m) redundancy package for Royal Irish Regiment soldiers.

THE rioting which erupted in Belfast last weekend was depressingly predictable.

A second battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment should be retained in the North, the Democratic Unionist Party claimed today.

BRITISH government plans to disband three Northern Ireland-based battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) in a major shake up of security could cost the North’s economy €88 million (£60m) every year, it was claimed.

Plans to disband three Northern Ireland-based battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment in a major shake up of security could cost the North’s economy £60m (€88m) every year, it was claimed today.

Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists were today accused of promoting a grubby agenda on the Government’s security plans for Northern Ireland and equality.

Work to dismantle one of the most infamous army watchtowers in Northern Ireland will get under way today.

The head of the Anglican Church in Ireland made an impassioned plea today to Northern Ireland’s politicians to redouble their efforts to achieve political stability, following the recent Assembly elections.

The family of a Royal Irish Regiment soldier today pressed for a public inquiry into his death after it emerged officers had expressed concern about bullying and sexual assault in the regiment.

Anti-agreement UUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson has claimed that a British government statement yesterday did not go far enough to convince him that the British army's Royal Irish Regiment would not be disbanded.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today welcomed a pledge from the British government that it had no plans to axe Royal Irish Regiment battalions as part of a scheme to cut troop levels in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble is due to meet British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon today to discuss the apparent plans to disband the British army's Royal Irish Regiment.

The Ulster Unionist Party is being manipulated by anti-agreement MP Jeffrey Donaldson as he prepares to challenge David Trimble’s leadership, it was claimed today.

An independent unionist councillor in Co Antrim has said the British army's Royal Irish Regiment must be retained in case the Irish Army invades the North.

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 British government is reportedly planning a climbdown over its plans to disband the British army's Royal Irish Regiment in order to save UUP leader David Trimble's political future.

Britain's security minister in the North, Jane Kennedy, has insisted that the British government has not taken any decision to disband the Royal Irish Regiment.

The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, has furiously denounced plans to downgrade the Royal Irish Regiment.

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

The DUP has accused the Ulster Unionists for failing to prevent the British government planning to axe three of the Royal Irish Regiment's four battalions.

THE Royal Irish Regiment is to be scrapped as part of a major plan to cut troop numbers in the North.

A BRITISH inquiry into how Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins ran the Royal Irish Regiment will be a farce, it was claimed yesterday.

Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble has called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to state that the Royal Irish Regiment of the British Army will not be disbanded.