James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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As background, I established the Firearms Expert Committee (FEC) with representation from firearms users, the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána, under an independent chairperson, to advise on a range of firearms matters. The Committee’s terms of reference were made publicly available.

The FEC held nine in-person 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 FEC reports were published on 31 March 2023 on Gov.ie, alongside the minutes of each in-person meeting and a summary of each in-person meeting.

Following the delivery of the reports, a consultation process was launched. So far, that process has included an online survey on Gov.ie, which resulted in 1,945 responses, and the gathering of written submissions from a range of stakeholder organisations, including the Firearms Users Representative Group and the NARGC.

The Department held meetings with a number of such groups so that they can feed in the views of their members, and this process continues. This includes a meeting with the Firearms Users Representative Group, including a representative of the NARGC.

At that meeting I underlined the Departments commitment that any proposed changes to policy or legislation arising from any of the recommendations of the FEC would be subject to such prior consultation with firearms stakeholders. Assurances were also given that no policy or legal changes had been made as a result of the report prepared by the FEC and that the Department continued to consult with stakeholder bodies on the reports of the FEC.

The concerns referred to by the Deputy (as well as a number of FEC recommendations that were welcomed by the NARGC), were discussed and noted by the Department. This included the wish for a more structured ongoing dialogue between Government and firearms stakeholders in relation to issues that arise in connection with legally held firearms, and that is something I agreed should be considered further.