Vol. 440 No. 4
122 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice the total number of rounds of ammunition, the total number and type of weapons and the amount and type of explosives and other materials recovered in finds of arms, ammunition and explosives believed to have been imported as a result of illegal shipments with regard to the Republic of Ireland; and the estimated market value of these finds.
Statistics of all arms, ammunition and explosives recovered by the Garda Síochána are included in the Garda Commissioner's annual reports on crime, copies of which are in the Oireachtas Library for the years up to and including 1992. Statistics of arms finds in 1993 to 14 October were given in my response to Question No. 89 on that date. Statistics of finds for last year as a whole will be included in the Report on Crime 1993 which is at an advanced stage of preparation. All of the materials recovered by the Garda Síochána with the exception of home-made explosives and certain shotguns, rifles and associated ammunition were brought into the State illegally.
As indicated in my reply of 14 October 1993, it is not the Garda practice to put a monetary value on arms, ammunition and explosives recovered. The value of such recoveries is more clearly expressed in terms of their importance in preventing deaths and injuries to the people of these islands.
