Mr. Fergus Healy:

When people report such matters to the Garda Síochána, the circumstances of how the weapon was lost or stolen is accepted at face value unless there is evidence to the contrary. An issue of concern arose in 2009 when there was an aggravated burglary on a firearms dealership in the Munster area and a significant number of handguns were stolen. Those guns remain at large. In total, 40 guns were taken. As I said earlier, people who are in possession of handguns are a target for organised criminals. They possess such weapons lawfully but can be victims of burglary or theft. Some people are careless with their weapons. We had one case where a person left a high velocity rifle in a car. The car was broken into in a public car park in Dublin and the rifle was taken.