Mr. Fergus Healy:

We have an arrangement with a company to destroy them. A significant number of guns have been handed in by people who no longer want to license them. In some cases families have guns belonging to deceased relatives and family heirlooms. There is a provision whereby these guns can be decommissioned, and a superintendent can issue an authorisation to deal with them. The vast majority of people who did not want the guns handed them in to the Garda Síochána during a particular time period when we had provisions to collect them. They were then destroyed by a leading manufacturer in the jurisdiction. Approximately 18,000 handguns were surrendered.