Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Sections 42, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 65 provide what are termed mandatory minimum sentences of five and ten years for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of a firearm while hijacking a vehicle, possession of a firearm to resist arrest or aid escape, possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances, possession of a firearm with criminal intent and altering a firearm under amendment No. 65.

Section 61 makes specific provision in relation to the application of mandatory minimum sentences. Section 42 substitutes a new section for section 15 of the Firearms Act 1925 and the new section provides for a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum mandatory sentence of ten years' imprisonment for the offence of possession of firearms with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.

Section 57 substitutes a new section for section 26 of the Firearms Act 1964 and this new section provides for a maximum sentence of 14 years and minimum of five years for the offence of possession of a firearm while taking a vehicle without authority, in other words, armed hijacking.

Section 58 substitutes a new section for section 27 of the Firearms Act 1964 and this new section provides for a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum mandatory sentence of ten years for the offence of use or production of a firearm to resist arrest or escape from custody. It is specially designed to say that no garda, armed or unarmed, should ever face somebody who takes out a shotgun to threaten to kill him or her for the purposes of resisting arrest without the most severe consequences. Everybody in this House believes that is a reasonable provision. If we ask the Garda to be largely an unarmed force in the great majority, its members must know the law will severely punish anybody who threatens them with firearms, because their lives are on the line.

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