THE High Court has ordered the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht to issue shooting licences to a non Irish group visiting a Connemara estate this weekend.
Iascaigh Scrib Teo made the application to the court yesterday on behalf of an associated company, Screebe Estates, which has sporting rights over 27,000 acres of land.
Mr Michael Collins SC, for the company, said non Irish persons had to have a firearms certificate and a hunting licence. They were not allowed hunt wildlife protected by legislation.
Last Tuesday the company was notified that the group had been refused licences over the company's lands but had permission to shoot over lands at Annamoe, Co Wicklow.
An official in the Department told a company member the refusal was due to the company's "bad track record".
Mr Collins said his clients knew of one or two incidents, the most serious being when a guest coming ashore from a boat took out his gun and shot at a flight of geese. This was not his client's fault. Mr Collins said his clients had never had an opportunity to confront or refute such allegations.
Mr John Hedigan SC, for the Department, said his clients viewed the matter with the "gravest concern" and had been grossly prejudiced by the short notice they received of the court application. They had not had time to prepare a proper case.
There had been several incidents and the Department did not accept these were accidental.
Mr Justice Geoghegan, giving his decision, said the balance of convenience overwhelmingly favoured the granting of the licences to the visitors.