Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My question concerns bullets. Is it the case in other jurisdictions that when a firearm is licensed an agency of the state takes a record of the striations of the barrel of the gun on a bullet for record purposes so that if instances of criminality or theft take place, a weapon can be traced back to the source?

I have an inter-related question on that, which is linked to what I would deem to be the civilianisation of the application process, notwithstanding what Deputy McGrath had to say regarding the necessity for An Garda Síochána to be involved at some stage in that process. A civilian or State authority could bring the licensing process to point B or C in the process, and then allow the Garda to complete its section of the process. The bottom line comes down to whether an applicant is a criminal or there is a risk. An adjudication could then be made by a civilian authority using the best advice given to it by An Garda Síochána. Would that be pertinent?

I posed two questions - one on a database and the second on the method we might use to explore the civilianisation of the process.