Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

There may very well be anecdotal evidence on people who have licences and who should not have them but unfortunately we cannot go on anecdotal evidence. There may very well be circumstances in which people have substantial criminal records but because of the criteria and the discretion of the authority it may decide to grant a licence because they were convicted 30 or 40 years ago and have had no convictions since. It an area we must keep under constant review because, as Deputy Flanagan knows, the reason the Oireachtas responded to bring forward this legislation was because there was a significant underbelly of criminality in the area, or at least it was felt that was the case.

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