they are probably waiting for it to be replaced by the BIR.
Well, I hope it takes a long time. As far as I can tell, EASA are going to require all BIR training to be conducted at an ATO. That means that those conducting IR(R) training and testing as a DTO will be excluded.
ATO-only training will
a) considerably reduce the options for people to obtain the rating
b) considerably increase the cost
If I had a vote I'd keep the IR(R) in parallel - it's still a UK-only rating
The aircraft we use for IR(R) training and testing hasn't PBN capability - I suspect this applies to much of the DTO fleet. In any event, we don't have a GNSS approach available locally so it's academic.
TOO