§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the number of Her Majesty's armed services personnel that have served in Northern Ireland since August 1969. [131961]
§ Mr. IngramSince August 1969, the total number of soldiers who have served at least one day in Northern Ireland is 322,120 while the number of officers who have served at least one day in Northern Ireland is 24,120. The figure for Officers is lower than that given in the answer to my hon. Friend on 5 March 2001,Official Report, columns 17–18. The inaccuracy has only come to light when we sought an update of those figures to answer this question. (These figures include regular soldiers, full and part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment. It also includes members of the TA who do not play any part in security operations in Northern Ireland, but it is not possible to extract these figures from the overall totals.)
In the case of the Royal Air Force 2,380 Officers and 26,010 Airmen/Airwomen are recorded as having received pay while serving in Northern Ireland and will, 379W therefore, have served at least one month in Province. Comparable information for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines is not available.