Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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328. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who, between 1 January 2016 and 30 June 2017, applied to his Department to become registered firearms dealers; the number of persons that have been granted a gun dealer's licence in the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32916/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Section 9 (3) of the Firearms Act 1925, as amended, provides for the registration of a person as a firearms dealer. Any person who applies for registration must satisfy the Minister that “he is immediately about to carry on business as a firearms dealer .... in premises suitable for that business.”

Further, the section provides, inter alia, that the Minister shall have regard to the character of the applicant, and generally to the public safety and preservation of the peace when considering such applications.

A person who wishes to become a firearms dealer must first obtain an application form (form 7) which is available on my Department's website. The completed form must be lodged with the Sergeant of the Garda sub-district where the applicant resides and An Garda Síochána will then prepare a suitability report on the character of the applicant and a crime prevention report on the proposed business location.

The number of persons that applied to join the register of firearms dealers for the first time from 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2017 was 22. This figure does not include those who renewed their registration on the register during this period. The total number of the first time applicants that were granted registration during the same period was 8.

In relation to the 14 remaining persons:

10 applications await final Garda reports.

3 applications await further information from the applicant themselves.

1 application was refused.