Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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153. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will ensure an adequate consultation process with the relevant representative groups following the publication of the firearms expert committee report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22902/23]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy that 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 of each in-person meeting 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 as many people and organisations as possible to engage with this process to make their views known.

Individual firearms users should engage with the online public consultation but 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 individual observations, as appropriate, in the organisation's written submissions to me.