Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I am minded to support Deputy Charles Flanagan's amendment. Amendment No. 12 in my name is framed differently and is aimed at roughly the same purpose. We have a big problem with guns in our society. We have seen an increase in the number of unlawful killings with people being murdered as a result of gangland feuding, which is profoundly disturbing. We have even seen innocent bystanders being caught up in the mayhem that is going on in gangland crime. They lost their lives even though they had no association with the criminal fraternity.

I do not envy the Minister's task in seeking to provide for the safety of our citizens. It seems to me, however, that the outright ban on practice shooting is a different issue. We have a problem with guns in Ireland, but it is one that concerns illegal firearms. It would appear that there is no great difficulty in importing guns illegally into this jurisdiction. In addition, there is no great impediment for the criminal fraternity to access illegal guns. I wonder therefore if the appropriate reaction to that problem is to clamp down on sporting handguns and sporting clubs, effectively putting a certain kind of sporting endeavour out of business.

Deputy Charles Flanagan put that letter on the record, but the Minister will know that we received a detailed document, which I presume he also got, rebutting claims and assertions by the Minister on the last occasion. The document goes through the matter in great detail. It is immensely regrettable that we do not have sufficient time to deal with this legislation. Although we are only dealing with an early section of the Bill, it looks like this will be the last amendment to be debated. I do not have time to go into the document we received, which challenges assertions made by the Minister. It also challenges some of the opinions on which the Minister relied on the last occasion.

Why is the Minister so focused on this objective in the Bill? I listened carefully to what he said on Committee Stage. I also listened to the interaction in the House, yet I am still somewhat in the dark as to why this has such a high priority for the Minister. The only conclusion I can come to is not that these clubs are not strictly and rigorously supervised, regulated and licensed, and that great care is taken with the weapons, but that the Minister fears some people may be taken aboard by some of these clubs who will use them for training purposes and will subsequently use the skills garnered for nefarious purposes. That is the best shot I have been able to make at what we are talking about. A fair amount of opaque language has been used, as well as dramatic assertions and reliance on the opinion of people in other related sports criticising this one. The impression I have formed is that the Minister fears a person could join one of these clubs and become skilled in the use of firearms and subsequently use those skills for anti-societal purposes. If that is so, I share the Minister's concern, and I acknowledge why he would be thus concerned. That is why I have framed my amendments the way I have, to leave the Minister the power in making regulations to ensure that in the matter of vetting prospective members of such clubs, the necessary care is taken so that kind of person is not granted admission. That is a more reasonable approach than taking the drastic action of shutting down entirely the particular sport that has been at the sharp edge of the debate on this section.

Will the Minister reconsider the extreme position he has taken up to now, given the information furnished to him and the arguments advanced in the House so far?

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