Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 21, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:

"(5) Draft orders to be made under this section shall be brought by the Minister to the Select Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights for the purposes of consultation and debate.".

These amendments are to ensure that the Oireachtas Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, or whichever committee is dealing with justice issues, is allowed to debate and suggest amendments to draft orders or guidelines produced by the Minister under this section.

There has been much debate about this section and some of the lobbies we have received are askew in their interpretation of this Bill. However, there are issues which are not sufficiently clear in the legislation, which means there is doubt. We are told some of the issues will be dealt with via orders or guidelines from the Minister. Rather than leaving that to the Minister, we need to ensure there is democratic accountability and that Members of the Houses, and members of the committee in particular, have a say. In this way we can ensure the points raised by those involved in gun clubs and similar are considered.

Due to the major growth in gun culture, the industry that has developed in this area has been growing so fast it is getting out of hand. However, there is an industry which employs people and has a legitimate sporting purpose and whose activities include paintballing and airsoft and so on. Some people have invested considerable amounts of money in building up businesses based on the previous rules about firearms and they believe that if they do not have some input into the guidelines their businesses and opportunities will be at risk.

Some gun lobbyists believe that all types of weapons should be legalised and that high-calibre weapons can be used for legitimate sporting purposes. Our society should not go down the road of the US in terms of gun culture. We have seen allegations in the newspapers about what has been happening in terms of the law being flouted and holes being picked in existing laws, so that we have Irish mercenaries training here and going abroad. In one case it seems a person was fatally wounded.

Gun clubs should be properly regulated and I welcome the relevant sections of the Bill in this regard. However, this needs to be kept under review. The Minister has an amendment in this regard, which is welcome to a degree, but all it does is ensure a report is obtained about the number and classes of certificates and authorisations issued under the Acts; it does not cover guidelines, orders and so on. There is no guarantee that the orders or guidelines will come before the committee before they are issued to allow the committee a suitable role in liaising with those involved in legitimate sporting activities, farming groups that might be affected, and so on. A proper committee structure should be built around this with reviews on an annual or biannual basis, or more frequently if the Minister is inclined to issue orders more often. At least then Members with an interest in this field could give advice to the Minister and suggest changes that could make his orders or guidelines more workable. That is the intention of these amendments.

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