On the back of the removal of watchtowers from south Armagh, the Home Batallions of the Royal Irish Regiment (the amalgamation of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Rangers) are to be disbanded from 1st August 2007, a date which will also see the army finish it's support role for the police in Northern Ireland.

"The Royal Irish Regiment (Home Service) ... 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."

GOC, Lieutenant General Sir Reddy Watt

The move comes as part of a planned reduction in troop numbers over 2 years that should (pending the IRA being good little terrorists and not drawing too much attention to any murders) see troop numbers in Northern Ireland fall from 10,500 to 5,000.

As well as the reduction in troop levels towards something more akin to the rest of the UK, Ulster-specific anti-terrorist legislation will be repealed during the same timescale and on-the-run prisoners (including the monster who carried out the Eniskillen Massacre) will be allowed to return to British soil without fear of public prosecution.

Follow up:

As I've said before I welcome the idea of a return (?) to normal troop levels in Ulster, but this is a bit too much too soon. Remember: the IRA are yet to actually do anything following last week's statement. One could be forgiven for concluding that Peter Hain is rather over-eager to appease the gunmen and bombers who caused 30 years of death and destruction at the expense of those whose lives they've ruined. I think he's banking on the idea that it sounds so ludicrous that nobody would believe it, like it's hard to believe that a man now in a ministerial post of the UK government was once part of the "Troops Out" movement who wanted to abandon 1 million people to the whim of militant terrorists in the 1980s.

There is some sort of twisted logic in it. I mean if you're letting all the murderers you've caught out of prison, there doesn't seem much point in continuing to chase the ones you haven't, but at least the threat of prison might have kept them out of Northern Ireland and away from killing any more of her people.

As ever, the Conservatives seem to have a much more reasoned and logical appraoch to Northern Ireland.

"Once there is clear evidence that republicans are matching words with deeds, the government would be right to proceed with a programme of normalisation, but people in Northern Ireland want proof that the changed climate hailed by ministers is both permanent and irreversible. Instead, it is the government that is rushing to implement measures that are bound to be permanent and irreversible.

What is Mr Hain's plan if the IRA fails to deliver on its promises, as has happened so many times before?"

David Lidington, Conservative NI spokesman

Maybe it'll all be fine. Maybe the watchtowers really aren't needed. Maybe the on-the-runs aren't a big threat and maybe they'll just come back and run their own little criminal empires without troubling the powers that be in London. Maybe the ever-softer attitudes and (in)actions of the police to violent, riouting scumbags will be enough without army support (who needs the army when you've got... a big water pistol!). Nevertheless, Peter Hain is gambling with the lives of a lot of ordinary decent people in the name of political expediency.