NI: Home Service battalions to be disbanded

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.

In a move which infuriated unionists, the British army’s General Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland, Lieutenant General Sir Redmond Watt, confirmed there would be no military requirement for the battalions in the North.

The move was announced on the back of an IRA declaration last Thursday that it was ending its armed campaign and completing its scheme to decommission weapons.

Lt Gen Watt explained: “The Royal Irish Regiment (Home Service) and their predecessors, the Ulster Defence Regiment, have played a crucial role in creating the enabling environment for normalisation to begin.

“Once the Police Service of Northern Ireland no longer needs routine military support, the three Home Service battalions will have successfully completed the task for which they were raised.

“The programme being published today will see Operation Banner end by August 1, 2007, assuming an enabling environment is maintained.

“With the eventual end of Operation Banner, there will be no military requirement for the Home Service battalions and, at that point, they will disband.

“I have today reassured members of the Regiment that, in considering how to handle this difficult period of transition, the (British) government is committed to treating fairly and with dignity those who have given so much.”