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Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) on Wednesday, 29 April 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 5 May 2009. It was answered by Bob Ainsworth (Labour) on Monday, 11 May 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Bomb Disposal: Northern Ireland

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) on how many occasions an Army bomb disposal squad has been called out (a) to deal with devices and (b) to respond to hoax calls in each district of Northern Ireland in each of the last 24 months;
Answer

As at 1 May 2009, 44 members of 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Regiment were stationed in Northern Ireland. No EOD personnel have sustained injuries on duty in Northern Ireland in the last 18 months. The following table shows the number of times Army EOD personnel have been called out in Northern Ireland in the last 24 months.

IED¹/Incendiary²/Find³ call outs Hoax4/False³ call outs Total call outs
2007
May 18 4 22
June 13 6 19
July 16 10 26
August 11 1 12
September 26 5 31
October 23 6 29
November 15 2 17
December 2007 17 5 22
2008
January 6 15 21
February 2 16 18
March 7 16 23
April 20 4 24
May 12 17 29
June 16 7 23
July 17 6 23
August 12 14 26
September 19 11 30
October 21 14 35
November 30 25 55
December 19 7 26
2009
January 19 4 23
February 18 9 27
March 28 51 79
April 22 29 51
¹ IED—The report of EOD action which results in the total neutralisation, disruption or dismantling of an Improvised Explosive Device.
² Incendiary—The report of the functioning of an IED which is primarily designed to cause damage by burning.
³ Find—The report of explosives or bomb-making components, weapons, ammunition or tools found by the police or security forces and confirmed by the EOD Operator after full investigation.
4 Hoax—The report of an incident where, after full investigation, an object is discovered to be a simulated IED.
5 False—A report made in good faith of an object believed to be an IED which, upon full investigation, proves to be innocuous.

The number of each call out type by district is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
492 c614-5W; 272859
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Bomb disposal Northern Ireland
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk