RIR to be axed, claims DUP

The Royal Irish Regiment is to be axed in Northern Ireland within five years, it was claimed tonight.

A timetable has been drawn up for the phased disbandment of all three of the so-called "Home Service" battalions by 2008, it is alleged.

Even though the British government has denied the unit is to be scrapped to help rescue the Northern Ireland peace process, incensed unionists insisted plans are already at an advanced stage.

Their fury centred on an internal document allegedly dealing with redundancy packages which sets out pension levels far below those offered to police officers.

Sammy Wilson, a senior member of the DUP, claimed the Royal Irish was being sacrificed in return for IRA disarmament.

He said: “More than 3,000 army personnel are being thrown on the scrapheap to try and persuade the Provos to do what it has been promising to do for the last eight years.”

Military authorities have already accepted the three home service battalions will go once the security normalisation has been achieved in Northern Ireland.

They stressed, however, a date will not be fixed until all threat of paramilitary violence is lifted.

But with the British government planning to slash troop levels in Northern Ireland from 14,000 to 5,000 once the IRA has declared its war is over, Mr Wilson claimed a deal to disband the Home Service has been done.

“The document reveals these battalions will be disbanded in three phases between 2005 and 2008,” he said.

A British Ministry of Defence spokesman tonight categorically denied the allegations.

He said: “The continued existence of the Royal Irish is fundamental to the provision of military aid to the civil power in Northern Ireland.

“No decision has been taken to disband the Royal Irish and nor is there any timetable for that.”