A LEGAL challenge by shooting enthusiasts to Garda refusals to grant them firearms licences has been adjourned to facilitate talks between lawyers. The talks began after the judge expressed serious concerns over a garda altering of licence application forms.
The hearing was brought to a temporary halt last week after Mr Justice John Hedigan expressed concern that a senior garda had altered a “substantial number” of application forms. Mr Justice Hedigan invited the State authorities last Friday to consider whether they would stand over the Garda licensing system after hearing evidence that a number of application forms were altered after the legal proceedings were initiated.
The judge found the evidence in two of the three test cases so far showed the recording process had not been correctly followed. He adjourned until yesterday when he was told the sides had been agreed to seek an adjournment for a week to facilitate further talks.
Mr Justice Hedigan agreed to the adjournment but said he did not want to “lose track” of the case. He also said he wanted to hear what the State had to say about the altering of forms before continuing with the case.
The development came in the hearing of three test cases which will affect the outcome of almost 200 similar cases brought by shooting enthusiasts and supported by the National Association of Game Councils.
Mr Justice Hedigan last Friday found evidence in two of the three test cases which showed the recording process had not been correctly followed. It had been admitted a substantial number of application forms had been altered, after having been previously signed and finalised, he said.
Large sections of the official application forms, the completion of which is mandatory, had not been filled in, leading to licences being refused, the court heard last week.
The judge noted this was described as due to “inadvertence”, or an error, by the authorities. The accuracy and integrity of licensing records was essential to the safe and effective operation of the scheme, he said.
“If the system put in place is not being followed, then both the granting and refusing process is clearly flawed”.
Ireland’s firearms laws were changed in 2009 to make it more difficult, on public safety and security grounds, to obtain a licence.
The shooting enthusiasts claim their applications were refused on a blanket basis by gardaí without adequate reasons but the Garda authorities have denied claims of a fixed policy of refusing licences.
In the first test case brought by Dublin firearms dealer Michael Walls, he is seeking orders quashing the October 2009 refusals by Garda Chief Supt Gerard Phillips, Ballymun Garda station, to issue firearms certificates for seven pistols owned by him which are considered as restrictive firearms.
The court heard previously that Mr Walls was actively involved in shooting clubs and competitions, both nationally and internationally, for many years.
He claims Chief Supt Phillips told him, in a letter, that he was not satisfied Mr Walls had shown a good reason for requiring a restricted firearm where a non-restricted firearm would not fulfil his purpose. Mr Walls had asked for a meeting but was refused and he was also not provided with reasons for the decision, it is claimed.
In a replying affidavit, Chief Supt Phillips said that in October 2009, after considering Mr Walls’s application and having weighed all of the relevant considerations, he was not satisfied Mr Walls had a good reason for requiring the guns and also did not think a meeting with Mr Walls was necessary.
The chief superintendent said he also took into account other factors, including the number of gun-related crimes in his Garda division and the dangers handguns could pose to the public.