Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Unless the legislation states the sentence should always be ten years, which has a constitutional implication on the advice of the Attorney General, a formula must be devised that allows the Judiciary to avoid a grossly disproportionate sentence, for instance, in a case where somebody was in temporary possession of a firearm out of sheer curiosity for 24 hours and was not involved in gangland activity. I cannot imagine a circumstance, similar to the Supreme Court in Tiernan's case, when one could intend to kill or endanger life with a firearm——

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