2 R IRISH - Op TOSCA, Cyprus.

A detachment from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment was under command of the 1st Battalion The Royal Scots Borderers, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS) in Cyprus when 1 SCOTS assumed operational responsibility for United Nations Sector 2, the section of the UN Buffer Zone that runs through the Cypriot capital, Nicosia. The deployment was for six months before 1 SCOTS returned with its 2 R IRISH personnel to Northern Ireland to re-assume its role as the Resident Battalion in Palace Barracks, Holywood.

During the Operation TOSCA 23 tour, the Battalion Padre, Captain Mark Donald, was deployed for one month to cover as Battlegroup padre, present when 2 R IRISH personnel gathered for a Remembrance ceremony at the Nicosia War Cemetery, which includes the area known as 'Wayne's Keep', where the Royal Ulster Rifles buried Rifleman Kinsella in 1958 during the Cyprus Emergency.