MI5 strengthens counter-terrorism force after Northern Ireland killings

MI5 is sending more staff with Irish counter-terrorism backgrounds to work at its headquarters in Holywood, County Down.

The move comes after Northern Ireland security officials admitted there was a gap in their knowledge of the personnel and resources of dissident republican groups.

According to the Times, the government will increase the proportion of the budget spent on defeating Irish terrorist activities to meet the growing threat from the Real IRA and Continuity IRA, which claimed responsibility for killing two soldiers and a police officer in two separate attacks.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

The current annual budget spent on counter-terrorist activities is thought to be about £300m, with 15% spent on operations against Irish terrorists.

Irish dissident groups have mounted 18 gun and bomb attacks since the beginning of last year. The troops were the first British soldiers to be killed in Northern Ireland in 12 years, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.