Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
1387. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Justice if her Department has a report or briefing available of the key findings from the meetings and consultations with stakeholders in relation to the proposed legislation on licensing of centre fired semi-automatic rifles; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40355/21]
View answerIn September 2013, the Secretary General of the Department proposed the setting up of a Working Group to review firearms licensing. The Commissioner of An Garda Síochána agreed, and a joint Department of Justice/ An Garda Síochána Working Group was established.
The report of this Working Group was published on 13 November 2014 and submissions on the report were sought from stakeholders and the public by 31 January 2015. The consultation process gave individuals and groups an opportunity to contribute to the development of firearms policy and legislation and enabled consideration to be given to the future direction of such legislation.
The Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality also sought submissions and held hearings with interested parties in relation to the Working Party report and published an interim report on the matter. The Oireachtas Committee also held two public debates on Wednesday 17 December 2014 and Wednesday 21 January 2015 which are publicly available on the Oireachtas website.
An Garda Síochána also highlighted the findings of the joint Working Group in their 2014 Annual Review of the Operations of the Firearms Acts 1925 to 2009 .
Following the findings of this working group and the public consultation, it was determined that the public safety concerns regarding these rifles justified their prohibition. I am sure the Deputy will agree that these are potentially very dangerous weapons in the wrong hands.
On September 18 2015, the then Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, T.D., announced plans to implement a number of changes to Firearms Licensing, including restrictions on the licensing of any new centre-fire semi-automatic rifles.
This remains settled policy and it is my intention to legislate to introduce restrictions on the licensing of centre-fire semi-automatic rifles, including the revocation of licenses issued after 18 September 2015, as flagged at the time.
People who have obtained licences since the 2015 announcement have been advised the licences will be revoked when the legislative ban is introduced. Any licence issued after the announcement to introduce a curtailment on the licencing of these firearms will be revoked following the enactment of the legislation.
My Department has also engaged with Registered Firearms Dealers to monitor the number of these firearms imported and to advise the dealers that any firearms brought into the State that do not have a firearms license associated with them dated prior to 18 September 2015 will become unlicensable when the new legislation is introduced. As the Deputy may also be aware, a similar process applied when restrictions were introduced for the licensing of centre-fire handguns.
The proposed legislation forms part of the General Scheme of a Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020. The General Scheme for this Bill was approved by Government in September 2020. It was referred to the Justice Committee for Pre – Legislative Scrutiny in January and I await the views of the Committee in due course. It is my intention to progress this General Scheme and to publish the required Bill at an early date, as other priorities in my Department’s legislative programme may allow.
