Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

Like the Minister, I live close to the Border and for long enough we knew what was happening with illegal guns and so on. The difficulty I have is that the guns about which we are talking have been licensed. While the Minister has given some explanation of his knowledge of and anxiety about this matter, the difficulty I have is that very little is done about the guns which are held illegally. Only last week the Ulster Bank branch in Cootehill was raided when some of my best friends were held up.

I refer to the drugs brought into the country. Guns are brought in with them. I hope the Minister will take an active a role in ensuring these guns are dealt with. We heard one of his predecessors, former Deputy Michael McDowell, talk about a gun amnesty, a condition of which was that one had to say what was done with the gun and from where it had come. If we want to control guns, this is a strange way to go about it.

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