Amnesty International has called on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide “full transparency” over a fire which may have destroyed Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) records.

A fire broke out at Palace Barracks in Holywood in January, destroying a building housing both the regimental headquarters of the Royal Irish Regiment and the offices of the Ulster Defence Regiment / Royal Irish Aftercare Service.

Responding to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from BelfastLive, the Army said it is unable to enter the building due to safety concerns and therefore “cannot confirm if any records were destroyed”.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty’s Northern Ireland programme director, told BelfastLive that the revelation “will undoubtedly be a source of anxiety to families who may fear that important UDR records from the Troubles era could have been lost and would therefore not now be available to any historical investigations or inquests”.

Mr Corrigan said: “The Ministry of Defence should make clear what documents - if any - were lost or damaged in this blaze.

“Where possible, it would be preferable if such archives were held by the National Archive in Kew. In this way, relevant files would be available to families, investigators and scholars attempting to piece together the truth of Northern Ireland’s recent history.

“There may well be no cause for disquiet in this case, but previously there have been concerns that the MoD has not made all relevant files available for public scrutiny.”

He explained: “In 2013, it was revealed that it was unlawfully holding thousands of files that should have been declassified and transferred to the National Archive in Kew under the 30-year rule, including large numbers of documents about the Northern Ireland conflict.

“In 2005 the MoD said it was withholding thousands of files because they had been stored in a building where asbestos had been discovered. Then they said that some of those files could not be transferred to Kew because of water damage.

“The best approach now from the MoD would be full transparency about what documents were being stored in the building and which, if any, have been destroyed or damaged.”