To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many military bases his Department have closed in Northern Ireland in each year since 1998; (283321)

The information requested on the number of operational and closed military bases in Northern Ireland and the terms on which they were occupied, in each year since 1998, is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

However, the Government’s Security Strategy Paper published in December 1999 recorded 72 open and 34 closed military sites including regular military bases, training areas, joint Police Service Northern Ireland/military bases, communication sites, and observation towers.

Further information on open and closed military sites from 31 May 2004 is included in the second, ninth, eleventh, fourteenth and sixteenth reports of the International Monitoring Commission (IMC), copies of which are available in the Library of the House. These reports can also be found on the IMC website:

http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org

In particular, the sixteenth report explains the terms on which the military occupied the sites and the arrangements for their disposal.

The current regular Northern Ireland Garrison bases and the terms on which they are occupied are as follows:

RAF Aldergrove (Freehold)

Abercorn Barracks, Ballykinler (Freehold)

Ballykinler Training Camp (Freehold)

Divis Key Point (on Divis Mountain) (Freehold)

Duke of Connaught Unit, Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast (Leasehold)

Massereene Barracks, Antrim (Freehold)

Kinnegar Station, Holywood (Freehold)

Palace Barracks, Holywood (Freehold)

Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn (Freehold)

Magilligan Training Camp (Freehold)