Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 94:

In page 40, line 28, after "Minister," to insert the following:

"and having consulted such organisations as in the Commissioner's opinion are representative of persons engaged in sporting or other lawful use of firearms,".

This amendment deals with the same ground we have covered, but in this instance it is an insertion into a different section of the Bill, namely page 40, line 28. It is not an unreasonable requirement that there would be consultation and I hope since the earlier division the Minister has reflected on that and will now consider it desirable.

The same issue is addressed in amendment No. 95, which creates a new subsection (3).

With regard to amendment No. 96, the point was made to me by the shooting fraternity that guidelines should not be secret. In that context, the amendment states that "Guidelines under this section shall be made available by the Commissioner to those likely to be affected thereby". I presume that is probably intended anyway but I do not see any harm in stating it explicitly as a requirement.

See this speech in context