The British government today denied any decision had been taken to scrap the Royal Irish Regiment.
Northern Ireland Security Minister Ms Jane Kennedy said: "We will continue to need their [the Royal Irish Regiment's] services. They perform those services extraordinarily well. They are highly regarded for the work they do".
Ms Kennedy spoke out amid intense speculation the Royal Irish's three Home Battalions will be disbanded as part of the Government's plans to cut troop numbers in the North.
But Army chiefs are now stressing that the 3,000 soldiers attached to the Home Service Battalions in Holywood, Co Down, Armagh City and Omagh, Co Tyrone, would only go once all paramilitary threat has ended.
The troops under threat do not include the Royal Irish's 1st Battalion, which fought in the Gulf War and was, until recently, under the command of Colonel Tim Collins, who is now the subject of two Ministry of Defence investigations.
Plans for a huge military scale-down were included in the Irish and British Government's joint declaration, issued earlier this month, and depend on the IRA declaring its war is over.
PA