Madam, - Bríd O'Reilly (January 10th) outlines the tragic loss of her brother as a result of an accident with a very old firearm. However, Ms O'Reilly should not hold her breath for action following her appeal to the Minister for Justice to do something about the condition of old guns.
The Firearms (Proofing) Act 1968 provided for the establishment of a firearms proof house and this was operated by the former Institute for Industrial Research and Standards. A proof house simply checks that a gun is what is termed as "in proof", i.e. that its condition is of a standard to enable it to be operated safely. However, the Government in yet another cutback closed the facility down and it has never re-opened.
A few years ago, my association raised the issue with the Department of Justice and requested that a proof house be established here once again to allow Irish firearms to be checked. We impressed upon the Minister's officials that this was a safety issue and would become even more so because of the trend to move away from the use of lead shot in wetlands to lead alternatives, the most popular being steel. Most of the alternatives to lead shot create much higher pressures in the gun chamber than happens with lead.
However, after initially indications that the Department would facilitate discussions, we discovered it had no interest in making any progress on this matter. After several meetings, the NARGC found it necessary to formally break off discussions due to lack of interest by the Department.
I hope Ms O'Reilly has better luck. - Yours, etc.,
DESMOND CROFTON,
Director,
National Association of
Regional Game Councils,
Sandford Road,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.