Armed Forces: Northern Ireland

(asked on 24th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of deploying British armed forces personnel to Northern Ireland in response to the opposition to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.


Answered by
Baroness Goldie Portrait
Baroness Goldie
This question was answered on 6th July 2021

The policing of all public order and protest events within Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI). The UK Government will continue to work closely with the PSNI. The safety and security of Northern Ireland remains our key commitment. Further policing support required by them would be provided via mutual aid support from other UK police forces. Defence would only provide support following a request from the PSNI via the well-established MACA (mutual aid to civil authority) process once mutual aid from other police forces had been exhausted, or if the support requested required niche capability not held by police forces within the UK. Defence has not received any request from PSNI to support them in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Until such a request is made by the PSNI no assessment or planning on this issue will be undertaken by the MOD.

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