Having viewed the uncorrected evidence given by the Northern Ireland Security Minister, Ms Jane Kennedy, we feel compelled to make a further submission to your committee.

  Regarding paragraph 338, which states the personal views of the Minister relating to young shooters, we would endorse the Ministers own view that the safety record for legally held firearms in Northern Ireland is very good and the additional evidence from Great Britain clearly shows that there is not a public safety issue with teenagers shooting under supervision. In addition we feel that in the absence of the assemblies views the opinions of the Members of Parliament elected by the people of Northern Ireland should be given the greatest consideration.

  In relation to statements made in paragraphs 341 and 342, we would make the point that any person who has the knowledge, technology and the criminal desire to adapt these weapons illegally, already has the ability to manufacture illegal firearms from scratch.

  In answer to Mr Pound's questions in paragraph 351, we fully appreciate why Mr Pound sees dark nights ahead and no daylight. In September of 2001 we and the BASC agreed a course of action with the NIO to cover competency with shotguns and air rifles whereby the BASC would produce a code of conduct leaflet. Its content would be fully explained to all applicants by firearms dealers. Confirmation that the applicant fully understood the information contained in the code of practice would be confirmed by him signing to that effect. The type of code of practice we are referring to can be viewed by looking at the current code of practice for airguns issued by the BASC.

  With reference to the Minister's answer to Mr Tynan's question as stated in paragraph 371, we are extremely frustrated but not necessarily surprised that the Minister responsible for producing the new shooting legislation for Northern Ireland does not know what a shotgun is for. Perhaps a more genuine dialogue with interested parties over the last seven years, may have enlightened her.

  Paragraph 405 deals with a question from Mr Barnes regarding the movements of legitimate firearms between the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is our knowledge that the greater movement of legitimate firearms is between Northern Ireland and the Republic. It may be of interest to the Minister that one of the chief uses of shotguns is for competitive clay target shooting. Clay target shooting within Ireland is conducted on an all Ireland basis and as a result shooters regularly cross the border to compete. It is our strongly held opinion that the Republic of Ireland firearm certificate holders should be permitted to travel to Northern Ireland to compete in these competitions without further documentation. The Belfast Agreement should be taken into account in this regard.

  Our final point relates to the Chairman's question in paragraph 413, and more importantly the Minister's answer. Firstly it is plainly obvious that the personal opinions of the Minister have come to the fore on this matter. Perhaps if this Forum had been formed seven years ago we would all now be discussing a much more refined and pertinent draft order, which would also have saved the British tax payers untold thousands of pounds. Once again the Northern Ireland electorate are to be treated as second class citizens compared to our Great Britain counterparts where open Government is the norm and denial of this Forum would be unacceptable to anyone who believed in open Government.

17 December 2002