British army leave the North

THE British army’s 38-year military campaign in the North is over.

From midnight it has been down to the Police Service of Northern Ireland to police the region and take on the small groups of dissident republicans still seeking to destabilise it.

Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said the move means the North is taking another big step towards normality.

He said the completion of the demilitarisation programme was welcome.

“This is a further significant step towards the realisation of a normal, peaceful, and prosperous society in Northern Ireland,” he said yesterday.

“After 38 years, military operations in Northern Ireland are over. Troop numbers have been enormously reduced, watchtowers are gone and army patrols have ended.”

Operation Banner — the army’s support role for the police — was the longest in British military history and involved some 300,000 military personnel.

When the first troops arrived it was believed they would be gone in weeks. Nearly four decades later their job is finally done.