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Royal Irish Regiment (Home Service)

I echo the words of my right hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley). Having served in the UDR alongside some of my hon. Friends, it is with great pride that I reflect on the contribution that it has made to securing progress in Northern Ireland and protecting all of the community. We salute the sacrifices that have been made to help us to move towards what we hope will be a lasting peace. Will the Minister look carefully at the nature and timing of the redundancies? In particular, will he make every effort to ensure that the members, both part-time and full-time, are accommodated when it comes to the timing of their redundancies? Where possible, that should be done on a voluntary basis, and I know that many of the soldiers will be willing to co-operate. I hope that no soldier will be put in the position of being forced to leave if he wishes to remain until the very end. Many of those soldiers, especially the part-time ones, have served in the regiment for more than 35 years. They were there at the beginning, and it is only fair to their honour and dignity that they should be there at the end if that is their wish. I hope that the Minister will find a way to accommodate those part-time and full-time soldiers who wish to remain to end, as well as those who wish to leave earlier on a voluntary basis.