An amnesty which allows people to hand in firearms without fear of prosecution will not lead to any significant reduction in the arsenals of Irish crime gangs, according to Minister for Justice Michael McDowell.
The amnesty will operate during September and October ahead of the introduction of new minimum mandatory jail sentences for firearms offences.
Other measures aimed at tackling organised crime and increasing detention powers for gardaí under the Criminal Justice Act 2006 came into effect yesterday.
Mr McDowell said the amnesty was aimed at people right across the country who have dangerous weapons in their homes but who may have been embarrassed or worried about coming forward.
He said the amnesty would give people a chance to get rid of all dangerous weapons including firearms, hunting knives and stun guns ahead of tougher new jail sentences in November.
"It's to make sure that nobody can claim afterwards, when the minimum mandatory sentences come in, that they weren't given a chance to regularise their position. There are people who have old pistols in the house and shotguns that they shouldn't have and this gives them an opportunity to go into a local Garda station to hand them up without punishment."
He said he had no idea how many weapons the amnesty would recover, but he stressed that similar operations in the UK had proved very successful.
"I just want to emphasise that I have never advanced the view that serious criminals who have arsenals are going to come into police stations and hand over their firearms.
"However, I do believe there are people with guns and offensive weapons right across Ireland who find it embarrassing to come forward, or who can't admit that they have them in the house who now have an opportunity to get rid of all of that material right across the board."