Burnside slams decision to close Ballykelly Army Base
Ulster Unionist MLA David Burnside has strongly condemned today’s government decision to close Ballykelly Army Base. Mr Burnside said the closures and redundancies were much more severe than expected.”It`s too much, too early,” he said.
The South Antrim MLA insisted that St Patrick’s Barracks should have been retained as a regional headquarters for the Royal Irish in Ireland.
Pointing to the continuing terrorist threat in the region, he added: “The Government just seems to be determined to implement its so-called normalisation irrespective of anything that might happen on the ground.
And these civilian staff supported the Army during the worst of the Troubles, so the MoD needs to look after them with proper compensation packages.”