§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the strength is of service personnel based in Northern Ireland. [84530]
§ Mr. IngramOut of the current total of 14,226 regular armed forces personnel (Army, Navy and RAF) permanently committed to operations in Northern Ireland, there were 14,042 deployed in Province on 28 November 2002. In addition, there are a further 1,039 armed forces personnel temporarily deployed to Northern Ireland as a result of the firefighters dispute under OPERATION FRESCO.