Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
554. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice for an update on the work of the firearms range inspector; the number of inspections that they have carried out in the last ten years and where those took place, broken down by district, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24480/23]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, the Firearms Range Inspector (FRI) is a statutory appointment made by my Department in accordance with Section 4B of the Firearms Act 1925-2009.
Under this legislation, my Department appointed one FRI.
The FRI is tasked with examining applications for the certification of rifle and pistol target shooting ranges and thereafter the inspection of such facilities for ongoing compliance with the construction standards for the range as set out in Statutory Instrument 622 of 2011, Firearms (Authorisation of Rifle or Pistol Shooting Ranges) Regulations 2011.
The authorisation of use of a target shooting range is the function of An Garda Síochána and the Garda Superintendent of the district in which the range is located.
The number of inspections that the FRI has carried out over the last ten years are laid out in Table below by location. This data is gathered and recorded by County only so it is not possible to provide this information by Garda District. The number of inspections from 2020 to 2022 reflect the restrictions in place due to the pandemic.
Number of inspections carried by the Firearms Range Inspector
|
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023* |
|
|
Carlow |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||
|
Cork |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
||||
|
Donegal |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
Dublin |
11 |
16 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
6 |
6 |
15 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
Galway |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|||||||
|
Kerry |
2 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
|||||||
|
Kildare |
2 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Kilkenny |
1 |
|||||||||||
|
Laois |
2 |
|||||||||||
|
Limerick |
3 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|||||
|
Louth |
1 |
2 |
||||||||||
|
Mayo |
1 |
2 |
||||||||||
|
Meath |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
||||||
|
Monaghan |
1 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
|||||
|
Offaly |
2 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
||
|
Sligo |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
||||
|
Tipperary |
4 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
||||||
|
Wexford |
6 |
3 |
11 |
7 |
6 |
9 |
6 |
8 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
|
Westmeath |
2 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
||||||||
|
Wicklow |
4 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
9 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
Total |
37 |
55 |
60 |
48 |
57 |
45 |
35 |
49 |
12 |
19 |
20 |
12 |
*Data up to 19/05/2023
