John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 246: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of legally held handguns that have been licensed since the enactment of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009. [3990/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, which was commenced last August introduced changes to the procedures for the certification of firearms. The remaining sections of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 relating to firearms licensing were also commenced at that time and introduced the distinction between a Firearm Certificate and a Restricted Firearm Certificate.

It is important to realise that under the new legislation, arising from both statutes, which created the three year licence and placed additional requirements on applicants, that all applications for Firearm Certificates are regarded as new applications and not renewals. However, persons who already held certificates for handguns were entitled to apply for a new certificate under the stricter licensing regime. In addition, since 19 November 2008, handguns have been generally banned with exceptions for Olympic style target shooting.

The Garda Authorities have informed me that, since the introduction of the new licensing regime, there have been approximately 450 Firearm Certificates granted for handguns to date. This figure includes both unrestricted and restricted categories but I do not have a precise breakdown at this time. I am also informed that a similar number of applications were refused.