MINISTER FOR Justice Alan Shatter has asked Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan for a report following concerns expressed by a High Court judge about how a senior garda altered gun licence application forms.
The organisation representing shooting enthusiasts complained that it has “lost all confidence” in the Garda’s ability to administer a “fair and professional” system of awarding gun licences.
During a visit to Parliament Buildings at Stormont yesterday, Mr Shatter said the concerns voiced by Mr Justice John Hedigan at the High Court must be addressed. “I have asked the Garda Commissioner for a report on that particular issue,” he said.
“We are obviously going to have to examine what emerged in the court case, and I don’t want to pre-empt or prejudge the information that is going to come back to me, but quite clearly it is a matter that is going to have to be addressed,” added Mr Shatter.
The Minister ordered the report after the judge said he wanted to hear what the State had to say about the alteration of the gun licence forms.
The issue arose during a legal challenge by members of the shooting fraternity over what they claimed was a policy by senior gardaí to refuse them licences for restricted firearms.
While the legal challenge against the refusal of over 160 gun licences was settled, the comments by Mr Justice Hedigan prompted the National Association of Regional Game Councils to call for an inquiry into how gardaí run the firearms licence application system. The council said the force had “lost all credibility and cannot be trusted with the licensing system”.
The judge had expressed concern that a senior garda had altered a “substantial number” of applications.
He said the accuracy and integrity of licensing records were essential to the safe and effective operation of the scheme.
Mr Justice Hedigan said the State authorities should consider whether they would stand over the Garda licensing system after hearing evidence that after the legal proceedings were initiated, forms were altered.
“If the system put in place is not being followed, then both the granting and refusing process is clearly flawed,” he added.
The game councils’ group, which supported the cases, said it was “outraged, but not surprised at the behaviour of senior gardaí in the operation of the firearms licensing system”.
The group called for “fundamental changes to the licensing system to ensure transparency, fairness and the maintenance of public confidence in the safety and security provisions of the system”.
Mr Shatter did not appear to see a need for any change to current firearms legislation. “The difficulty that appears to have arisen in those proceedings didn’t relate so much to the legislation as to the decision-making process and forms that were either filled in or not appropriately filled in, and I am not going to pre-empt the initial report that I am going to get from the Garda Commissioner,” he said.
