Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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526. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he has met with the representatives of gun clubs and hunters regarding their concerns over the expert firearms committee which was established to review the legislation regarding firearms licensing; and if he will be taking any action to ensure the voices of gun clubs are represented on the committee. [24090/23]

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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527. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the data which the expert firearms committee uses to make its decisions will be made publicly available to ensure transparency. [24091/23]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 526 and 527 together.

I established the Firearms Expert Committee (FEC) on a non-statutory basis with representation from stakeholders, my Department and An Garda Síochána.

The purpose of the FEC was to serve in an advisory capacity to me as Minister. In line with its comprehensive terms of reference, which were made publicly available, the FEC was tasked with making recommendations on a range of firearms matters for my subsequent consideration, including carrying out an assessment of all types of firearms to determine their current use under the existing licensing system and their suitability for future licensing.

The FEC held nine in-person committee meetings, in addition to one videoconference with representatives of the PSNI firearms licensing branch and one final videoconference committee meeting concerning the finalisation of the reports, over a period of nine months.

The final meeting of the FEC took place on 3 March 2023 and I published the final reports on Friday, 31 March 2023 on Gov.ie alongside the minutes and a summary of each in-person meeting.

As I have emphasised throughout the process, any proposed changes to policy or legislation arising from any of the recommendations of the FEC will be subject to prior consultation with firearms stakeholders.

On the, 3 May 2023, I launched the FEC consultation online on Gov.ie. The online consultation can be accessed at the following link:

www.gov.ie/en/consultation/411f7-consultation-on-the-recommendations-of-the-reports-of-the-firearms-expert-committee/.

I would encourage as many people and organisations as possible to engage with this survey in order to make their views known.

In addition to this, I have also sought written submissions on the recommendations of the FEC from a range of stakeholder organisations and intend to meet with such groups, having received their written submissions and following the conclusion of the wider public consultation, which runs until 2 June.

This will ensure that stakeholder organisations, and their members, can engage fully in this consultation process.

I would encourage all individual firearms users to complete the online survey and if they wish to provide additional observations on the FEC final reports, they should inform their firearm stakeholder organisations who will be able to consider and include these observations in the organisation's written submissions to me.