asked the Minister for Lands why a permit to shoot grouse between 20th August and 1st September during the annual close season, has been granted for the past three years to a person (name supplied) despite the protests of local sporting organisations, the fact that this man employs only one gamekeeper at £10 per annum, that there is no hotel in the locality, that there are no wealthy visitors there at that period, and that the fishing and shooting rights on his estate are operated by a Sligo syndicate.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grouse Shooting Permit.
40.
I refer the Deputy to the provisions of section 6 (4) of the Game Preservation Act, 1930, relating to the granting of permission by a superintendent of the Garda Síochána to kill or take game birds which are the subject of a Game Birds Protection Order. The statutory function of the Minister in this regard is exercisable only in the event of such permission having been unreasonably refused by the Garda superintendent.
In the case to which the Deputy refers, the superintendent, in granting permission for the shooting of grouse between the 25th August and 1st September, took into account all the relevant circumstances in arriving at his decision.