Royal Irish Regiment to be disbanded

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

British military authorities plan to abolish all three Home Service battalions, comprising nearly 3,000 soldiers under a new deal to break the deadlock in the peace process.

Army chiefs have already drawn up redundancy packages and held talks with trade union representatives to discuss the future of civilian staff affected by the move.

An internal draft document circulated among senior staff by the GOC in Northern Ireland Lieutenant General Truesdale has set out the impact of the demilitarisation programme code-named Operation Banner.

The document said: “What is already clear is that the end of Operation Banner will have an effect right across the rmy on such issues as force levels.

“The end of Operation Banner will inevitably mean the disbandment of the Home Service element of the Royal Irish Regiment,” it said.

The hardline Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said that news of the imminent announcement confirmed what he had been warning against for weeks.

“There is an agenda at the highest levels to downsize and even disband the home battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment,” the Lagan Valley MP said.

“I believe this decision is motivated by political expediency and I have no doubt it is designed as a sop to republicans,” he said.

A senior RIR officer Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins is being investigated for alleged war crimes in the Iraq war .

The officer was said by US soldiers to have punched, kicked and threatened prisoners to get information.

He is also said to have fired shots near the feet of Iraqi civilians to intimidate them, and that he allegedly hit a civic leader with the butt of a pistol.

Northern unionists have claimed the current allegations against Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins are part of a plot by shadowy government forces to discredit both him and his unit in plans to get rid of the RIR.