Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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338. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide in tabular form the number of firearms licences issued here in 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46101/14]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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339. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the percentage of licensed firearms that have been used to commit a criminal offence in each year since 2011 versus that of non-licensed firearms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46102/14]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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340. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide in tabular form a breakdown of the figure of 1,134 firearms which were stolen in the period from 2010 to 2013, inclusive, as per figures supplied in her Department's review of firearm licensing, on a year-by-year basis in the following catagories; a numerical breakdown between firearms stolen on an individual basis or those stolen in batch, for example, from a firearms dealer; the number of all categories stolen from firearms licence holders in each year; the number of all weapons stolen from members of An Garda Síochána in each year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46103/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 338 to 340, inclusive, together.

I have asked the Garda Commissioner for a report on these matters and will write to the Deputy when it becomes available.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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341. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will carry out an independent risk assessment of the report on the review of firearms licensing; if she will consider a regulatory impact assessment of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46104/14]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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345. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if risk assessment statistics were quoted in the context of the review of the firearms licensing proposals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46189/14]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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349. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality in view of the review of the firearms licensing Act, official EU statistics show a low ownership of licensed firearms here, that is, 8.6 per hundred persons, homicides with a licensed firearm are recorded at 0.48 per 100,000 persons and suicides per 100,000 persons at 0.56%, a higher suicide rate than homicide, if this does not contradict the claims being made by the Garda and her Department's proposed review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46202/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 341, 345 and 349 together.

In light of public safety concernshighlighted by An Garda Síochána and difficulties in the interpretation of the legislation expressed by members of the judiciary, a joint Department of Justice and Equality / An Garda Síochána Working Group was established by my Department to review firearms licensing. The Report of this Working Group was published on 13 November and submissionson the Report have been sought from stakeholders andthe public by 31 January 2015. The consultation process gives individuals and groups an opportunity to contribute to the development of firearms policy and legislation and will enable consideration to be given to the future direction of such legislation.

I have already given a commitment that I will not make any decisions until I have had the opportunity to consider all the submissions which are made and I meet the key stakeholders, including the organisations who represent those who use firearms for sporting purposes. I would now urge all concerned to engage with this process so that the views of all concerned can be considered before decisions are made in relation to this matter.

In so far as a risk assessment is concerned, the Firearms Licensing Review report has regard to recent relevant EU Commission reports and developments in other jurisdictions in relation to public safety. A regulatory impact assessment will, of course, be conducted if there are any legislative proposals under consideration arising from the consultation process.

I do not consider that the statistics quoted by the Deputy undermine any of the arguments put forward in the review. What I believe is very important is that there is robust legislation in place to ensure the security of the public.