Mr. Desmond Crofton:

The Deputy asked about the bottom line and the why. I cannot answer the question properly because I will run foul of the Chairman if I do. We have asked for a look-back and analysis of what has happened over the past five years, in light of the 650 court challenges, none of which were to change the legislation but all of which concerned administering it in accordance with the provisions of the legislation. I will leave that exactly as I say it.

To answer the other parts of the question, in terms of what is required and the bottom, line the Deputy mentioned a couple of things. He mentioned the length of time it takes to process an application and refusals. The problem is very simply that the Garda Commissioner's guidelines and the primary legislation require a firearms application to be dealt with within 12 weeks. The basis for that was that, prior to the current legislation, it was a moveable feast and there was no compellability in dealing with the matter. Even with that provision, licence applications, in many instances, go far beyond the three months.

One of the flaws in the administration is that when the process goes beyond the three months, under the primary legislation it is deemed have been refused. Therefore, if an applicant wishes to address that he or she must go to the District Court. That is a dreadfully unsatisfactory situation for a sporting activity. We want the guidelines to be mandatory, rather than simply being guidelines, as we have been told.

I am familiar with the refusals. There are many situations where people have firearms, have licensed them and which were listed on an annex as unrestricted firearms under the Commissioner's guidelines. The goalposts have been changed mid-stream. We are now being told some firearms are actually restricted firearms but they have already been licensed as restricted firearms. We can take it from this that when our licences come up for renewal they will be refused, despite the fact that we have licensed them and complied with the legislation. This is why we have asked for a look-back and an analysis of what happened. We have suggested that the Garda Inspectorate may the appropriate body to do that.