Mr. Declan Keogh:

Deputy Farrell made a very good point, namely, what the bottom line is and why we are where we are. I have been a licence holder for 40 years and held my first licence when I was 18 years old. When I applied for my second licence I was told by An Garda Síochána that it was illegal for me to have two rifles. At 18 years of age I went into Molesworth Street and bought the Firearms Act for 1/6 and could not find the provision in the legislation which stated that it was illegal to have two firearms. The experience I have had for many years is that there is no accountability in the interpretation of the legislation.

I referred to the raft of changes brought forward in 2006. I sat with the people who put the legislation together. It was agreed with the shooting bodies that there would be certain aspects. One of the major aspects was the fact that there was no accountability in regard to the process of a firearms application. One could apply in one jurisdiction and it could take two years to get a licence. There could be a combination of paperwork being lost and three applications having to be made.

In 2006, accountability was brought to the situation. If a decision is not made within three months, it is deemed to be refused. One has 30 days to appeal, and the only recourse is to appeal to the District Court. Tom Lynch put the legislation together and we understood that the three month limit was introduced to ensure that we were treated fairly. It was designed to be the exception, not the rule, and to be used in the very odd case where one would have the right to appeal to the District Court and would not be used regularly. Some 650 District Court cases have been taken as a consequence of refusals. Most of the cases granted by the courts are being reassessed by them. There have been nearly 200 High Court cases.

The current accountability regime set out in the legislation is excellent. It would be a lot easier to get rid of the .22 pistols and other pistols from the environment in Ireland. We would not then have any problem. The issue here is throwing the baby out with the bath water. They are trying to get rid of our sport because they have created a problem which needs a resolution. The resolution involves sitting down, holding discussions and reaching agreement between us.