Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I move amendment No. 108:

In page 47, to delete lines 17 to 29 and substitute the following:

37.—Section 8 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by the deletion of paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (g) and the insertion of the following paragraphs:

"(d) any person who has been sentenced to imprisonment for—

(i) an offence under the Firearms Acts 1925 to 2006, the Offences Against the State Acts 1939 to 1998 or the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005, or

(ii) an offence under the law of another state involving the production or use of a firearm,

and the sentence has not expired or it expired within the previous 5 years,

(e) any person who is bound by a recognisance to keep the peace or be of good behaviour, a condition of which is that the person shall not possess, use or carry any firearm or ammunition, and

(f) any person not ordinarily resident in the State for a period of 6 months before applying for a firearm certificate.".".

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 108:

In paragraph (f) of the inserted paragraphs, to insert "(except a person who is temporarily so resident)" after "State".

This is to make clear that in paragraph (f) there is provision for a person who is temporarily resident in the State to be dealt with. There is a doubt, which has been pointed out to me, that paragraph (f) might exclude persons who are temporarily resident in the State on the basis that they are not ordinarily resident in the State. That was not the intention of the Parliamentary Counsel. The amendment to the amendment proposes that, for example, a tourist coming to Ireland would not be excluded on the grounds that he or she was not ordinarily resident in the State for six months. I propose that both the amendment and the amendment to the amendment be accepted.

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