With an antecedence reaching back to 1688, the regiment was formed in 1992. The creation followed the
Options for Change proposals which recommended the amalgamation of the
Royal Irish Rangers and the
Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). Most of the membership of the new regiment came from the UDR. This produced an overwhelmingly
Ulster Protestant regiment with eleven
battalions: •
Regular Army – General Service • 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment • 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment •
Territorial Army • 4th Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers • 5th Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers •
Regular Army – Northern Ireland Resident Battalions (Home Service) • 3rd (
County Down) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment • 4th (
County Fermanagh and
County Tyrone) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment • 5th (
County Londonderry) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment • 6th (
County Armagh) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (former 2nd/11th Battalion UDR) • 7th (
City of Belfast) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment • 8th (
County Tyrone) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment • 9th (
County Antrim) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment The Home Service battalions, permanently based in Northern Ireland, filled the role formerly occupied by the UDR, assisting the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (with a focus on combating militant
Irish republicanism), in
Northern Ireland during
Operation Banner. The 1st and 2nd Battalions could serve worldwide as general service battalions. Because of its size, the regiment was removed from the
King's Division and existed within its own division of infantry. In August 1993, the two regular battalions were amalgamated as the 1st battalion. In 2000 in
Sierra Leone, whilst deployed to train government troops, eleven Royal Irish soldiers and their local army liaison officer were captured by the
West Side Boys insurgents. Five hostages were later released and the remaining six were freed by the
Special Air Service and
The Parachute Regiment during
Operation Barras: with the West Side Boys suffering severe casualties in the action. The Colonel-in-Chief, the
Duke of York presented the regiment new colours to
St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral in
Armagh on 16 June 2001: there is a plaque commemorating this event in the south aisle. The 1st Battalion deployed to
Iraq at the beginning of
Operation Telic in March 2003, where they carried out operations in the south of the country. Its (now-retired)
commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel
Tim Collins was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire for distinguished service. The number of Home Service battalions were reduced to three by April 2003: • 2nd Battalion – amalgamation of 7th and 9th Battalions • 3rd Battalion – amalgamation of 3rd and 8th Battalions • 4th Battalion – amalgamation of 4th and 5th Battalions In 2005, the
Provisional Irish Republican Army announced an end to its armed campaign. In response the British government announced the end of Operation Banner, and with it the disbandment of the Home Service battalions. A redundancy package was announced in March 2006. The Home Service battalions were awarded the
Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC) by
the Queen in
Belfast on 6 October 2006. The home service battalions were declared non-operational in October 2006, and disbanded in July 2007. At the same time, the
Royal Irish Rangers, then serving as the TA battalion, was renamed as 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. The 1st Battalion returned from six months in Iraq on Op TELIC VI/VII in May 2006 having served in the
Shaibah Logistics Base near Basra. Although the majority of the battalion was deployed around the MND(SE) area a single company was deployed to Baghdad. Three platoons of the 1st Battalion (Barrosa, Somme and Ranger Platoons) deployed to Afghanistan in 2006, as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade and supported 3rd Parachute Regiment, the latter forming 9 Platoon, C Coy, 3 PARA. They were involved in some of the heaviest fighting during
HERRICK IV. Lance Corporal Paul Muirhead, Lance Corporal Luke McCulloch and Fijian Ranger Anare Draiva were killed by the
Taliban during HERRICK IV. In summer 2007 the Regimental Headquarters moved from
St Patrick's Barracks,
Ballymena to
Palace Barracks,
Belfast. Both battalions deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade. The 1st battalion provided
Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) to assist in training the
Afghan National Army (ANA) and
Afghan National Police (ANP), and the 2nd battalion were the first Territorial Army company strength grouping to provide OMLT training from NATO forces. They were also the first TA Company to fully man
Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) within the
green zone. One company of the 1st Battalion, attached to 2 PARA, named Ranger Company, undertook offensive operations in the
Sangin area of Helmand Province. The 1st Battalion lost Ranger Justin Cupples to an
improvised explosive device (IED) during HERRICK VIII. Both battalions again deployed with 16 Air Assault Brigade to Afghanistan on HERRICK XIII from September 2010. Based in the southern part of Helmand, they lost Lance Corporal Stephen McKee, Ranger Aaron McCormick and Ranger David Dalzell during HERRICK XIII. Under the
Defence in a Competitive Age programme and subsequent Future Soldier, the 1st Battalion will transfer to the
16 Air Assault Brigade. ==Structure==