Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 1472: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the recent changes to gun licensing for the purposes of game hunting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32466/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2010 includes provisions allowing all holders of valid firearm certificates issued for shotguns between 1 August 2009 and 31 July 2012 to be deemed to be the holders of a hunting licence under the Wildlife Acts for the purposes of hunting game bird and hare species. This provision was introduced to address an issue which arose following the introduction of a new computerised firearm licensing system by An Garda Síochána.

The Wildlife Acts require a hunter to have a licence to hunt certain birds (such as wildfowl) and hares. The Acts made provision that this would be obtained as an endorsement on the hunter's Firearm Certificate. Both the hunting licence and the Firearm Certificate were issued by An Garda Síochána in the form of a shotgun licence with the appropriate endorsement for hunting.

New, computerised procedures introduced in 2009 for issuing 3-year Firearms Certificates omitted the facility for issuing the endorsement as a Wildlife Hunting licence. I understand that by the time the oversight was identified, it was not practicable to recall the new Firearms Certificates issued or to change the licensing process that was in train. Accordingly, provisions were included in the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2010 to allow a hunter who is in possession of a new Firearms Certificate to shoot game birds and hare species during the Open Seasons. These provisions will lapse on 31 July 2012, allowing the necessary changes to be made to the Garda computerised system in the intervening period.