Peter Hain today set out a two-year plan to scale down the Army’s presence in Northern Ireland and change the way the province is policed.
The Northern Ireland Secretary's statement came after the IRA said on Thursday that it is ending its armed campaign and completing its disarmament programme.
But aspects of the military withdrawal - particularly the disbanding of the three battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment which serve in the Province - immediately provoked anger from unionists.
Under the "security normalisation" plans, Army observation posts will be closed, police stations will be defortified and troops reduced to peacetime levels of around 5,000 soldiers in the province if the security climate is right. There are currently around 10,500 soldiers in the province.
The Government is also aiming to repeal within two years counter terrorist legislation particular to Northern Ireland. The plan will be introduced in three phases over the next 24 months.
Mr Hain, who discussed demilitarisation with Sinn Fein MP Conor Murphy at Hillsborough Castle this morning along with PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde, stressed today that the plans would only be implemented in the right security climate.
"My first and overriding priority, and that of the Chief Constable and the Army GOC (Lieutenant General Sir Redmond Watt, the General Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland), is the safety and security of the people of Northern Ireland. We will not do anything that will compromise that.
"Provided the enabling environment is established and maintained this programme will be achievable within two years though if the conditions are right to move more quickly in implementing elements of the plan, the Government will do so.
"The programme published today will see the creation of an environment which will allow the return of conventional policing across Northern Ireland."
Sinn Fein MP Conor Murphy called on unionists to embrace demilitarisation in the Province. The Newry and South Armagh MP said: "I have heard unionists decry any demilitarisation. I have to ask who wants to live in a heavily militarised society?
"It is for all our benefits, unionists as well as nationalists and republicans, to see society here demilitarised. That is what we are striving to achieve. The IRA has made a very significant contribution to that and what we are now seeing is others responding to that initiative."
Mr Murphy was speaking after holding talks with Mr Hain and Sir Hugh at Hillsborough Castle this morning. He said: "Sinn Fein have been actively pushing the British government to deal with its war apparatus here. As part of that we have been asking them to produce a comprehensive schedule to deal with the whole demilitarisation issue.
"We have had a meeting this morning with Peter Hain in which we pushed for this work to be completed within the earliest possible timeframe. I welcome the work that has begun in South Armagh but we want to see that speeded up at installations and British military apparatus right across the North."
Mr Murphy also said he hoped such a compromise strategy would include the disbanding of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR). Lt Gen Watt confirmed today that if all proceeded according to plan, the three Home Service battalions of the RIR would be surplus to requirements by August 2007, and would be disbanded.
Lt Gen Watt said: "The Royal Irish Regiment (Home Service) and their predecessors, the Ulster Defence Regiment, 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.
"The programme being published today will see Operation Banner end by August 1, 2007, assuming an enabling environment is maintained. "With the eventual end of Operation Banner, there will be no military requirement for the Home Service battalions and, at that point, they will disband.
"I have today reassured members of the Regiment that, in considering how to handle this difficult period of transition, the Government is committed to treating fairly and with dignity those who have given so much."
But the RIR is not to disappear entirely. Lt Gen Watt said that the 1st Battalion of the RIR and the Royal Irish element of the Territorial Army would continue the traditions of the regiment. The home-based battalions - 2nd, 3rd and 4th (Home Service Battalions) have approximately 3,000 soldiers based in Northern Ireland.
Ulster Unionist Assembly member David Burnside said he was disgusted by the announcement, and called on his party and the Democratic Unionists to have nothing to do with a process to appease republicans.
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the RIR announcement had come as a bombshell to his party.
The Lagan Valley MP said: "I am absolutely devastated by this. I think the Secretary of State under-estimates entirely the anger this decision will generate within the unionist community."
