Member

It is worth reminding the Committee of the context in which we are debating these amendments today. During the troubles, approximately 3,500 people tragically lost their lives, 90% of them at the hands of terrorists, be they republican or so-called loyalist. Only 10% of all those fatalities were at the hands of the security forces, the British Army, the Ulster Defence Regiment or the Royal Ulster Constabulary, George Cross. It is important to restate that had it not been for the efforts of those units, including those British Army veterans who deployed on Operation Banner, to help keep the terrorists at bay, the Good Friday agreement of 1998 would never have been achieved in the first place. Indeed, the respected military historian Martin van Creveld, in his 2006 book, “The Changing Face of War”, described Operation Banner as