The NQ is a CPL requirement, not IR.
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I did the dual thing for my CPL night; I logged P1 and the instructor was a safety pilot.
I doubt whether this is correct. JAR-FCL NQ requires, among other things, five full stop landings and take-offs at night. And these need to be done SOLO. Having anybody on board, even an instructor acting as a safety pilot, doesn't count.
And a NQ is an entry requirement for the IR. From LASORS:
E1.2 IR(A) FLYING TRAINING/
EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS
An applicant for a modular IR(A) course shall be the
holder of a PPL(A) or a CPL(A), either licence to include
the privileges to fly by night, issued in accordance with
ICAO Annex 1. In addition, applicants must hold a Flight
Radiotelephony Operator’s Licence
I have a UK-issued JAR-FCL license but fly from the Netherlands. In the Netherlands night flying under VFR is not allowed so you have to fly under IFR. Which you can't do until you have an IR, which in turn (at least for Night-IFR) requires an NQ. (I don't know whether an IR, restricted to day only, is even possible.)
The solution that the Dutch authorities adopted was that you could do the night take-offs and landings for the NQ as P1/S and with an instructor on board, as part of an IR training program. This would then formally be under IFR (with an IFR flight plan filed etc) on the instructors ticket.
I duly did so, then sent the paperwork to the UK CAA. They wouldn't have any of this and simply quoted JAR-FCL 1.something, where it said you have to fly solo. So that effort was wasted.