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FCP Notice re: Firearms Act roll out

Following advice from the Attorney General that Statutory Instruments giving effect to the firearms act amendments must apply to full sections of the Act and not to part sections, it is now the case that some of the planned roll out of the new firearms code will be delayed at least until the enactment of the Firearms Miscellaneous Bill which is due for publication on July 3^rd under the Programme for Government. As a result, the intended classification of restricted firearms will not now be applied on May 1^st 2008 as planned.

Saturday, 17 May 2008

NTSA eMailshot May 2007

Written by Mark Dennehy

Friday, 04 May 2007

NTSA Monthly Mailshot

May 1, 2007

Hello all.

Busy times for head office at the moment, between lobbying the Department of Justice, organising National Championships and international competitions and working on the review process. This is showing above all else that we can always use more help. The AGM is coming up in the autumn, so now would be a good time to start thinking about volunteering to help out. Ask one of the committee what the day-to-day job entails and find out if it's something you could help with; and then talk to them about volunteering. Without volunteers, we basicly can't keep the sport alive. So think about it. It's a fair chunk of work, don't think it'll be a piece of cake - but the satisfaction of seeing an Irish team doing well or a full line at the National Championships, well, that's job satisfaction you're not likely to get anywhere else. If you're interested, or just curious, come talk to any one of us.

As always, if you have any queries or suggestions, I want to hear them. Please send them by email to:

Secretary@targetshootingireland.org

Yours in Sport,

Mark Dennehy
Secretary, NTSA

Last Month:

Last committee meeting (April 19)

Please remember folks, the date of the next committee meeting is always up on the website, and the agenda for that meeting is up three days before it convenes.

Federation of Irish Sport

The NTSA has been officially recognised independently by the Federation of Irish Sports. This body, which is a grouping of all the National Governing Bodies in the state, acts to lobby groups like the Irish Sports Council and the government on behalf of its members, which means that all sports have more weight added to their message in government.

GB Junior International

It was decided to send a team of five juniors to the GB Jr International match in August. Details will be announced soon once athletes have confirmed interest and submitted training plans.

ISSF Munich World Cup

It was also decided to seek expressions of interest from two shooters for the Munich World Cup in June; again more details soon.

Air Rifle Report

Geoff reported on the air rifle nationals held just before the meeting. Scores and attendance were down on recent years and Geoff is very concerned at this, as are the rest of the committee.

Website

The website has finally had it's backend repaired and we'll now be seeing more obvious changes as we continue the upgrading process. Keep an eye on http://www.targetshootingireland.org !

Licence Fees

After last month, we thought we would have good news for everyone about the licence fees situation. As you know, the proposal from the Minister for Justice was that licence fees would be raised from €38 per annum to €170 for three years from August 2008. We had been informed that due to a massive grassroots campaign, the Minister had backed off on this proposal; however a parlimentary question put to the Dail on Tuesday April 24 has shown he does not have any such specific plans. We have met with the Department of Justice and are still pushing for further meetings between the NTSA and the Department at this time and we will keep you informed through the mailshots, the website, the email lists and the boards.ie discussion forum as to what happens; but we need you, the shooters, to individually contact your local TDs and representatives and the Minister himself to tell him that this hike in the licence fee is not acceptable. This issue has not been resolved, it seems to be simply parked until after the election.

We cannot stress strongly enough the importance of you, each and every one of you, writing in or phoning or going to meet your local representatives. It was this distributed effort by target shooters around the country, rather than any effort by any shooting body, which was noticed by the Department and which led to them contacting us to discuss the matter. With the general election now having been called, each and every letter, phone call, email, fax or visit is doubly important - do not think that your individual efforts are of little consequence! We need you all, no exceptions!

To assist in this, here is the letter sent by the NTSA to all the TDs in the Dail last month, and the NTSA press release on the subject. We'll be contacting them all again soon, and more on that later.

Deputy,
I am writing to bring to your attention the degree of anger and disgust that our members feel with regard to the recently announced hikes in the Firearms licensing fees.

These fees have been raised without consultation with us or even notice given to us by the Minister for Justice, despite an earlier commitment given by the Minister to work with the shooting associations when reforming the Firearms Acts.

These fees have been raised despite the fact that shooters do not benefit in any way from the monies handed over every August 1st - some 6 million euro up to now, and which these fees would raise to 26.5 million.

These fees have been raised despite a drop of 66% in the cost of administration of firearms licensing - a drop which could have been increased past 90% had our suggestion of "one shooter, one license" been followed, which would also have brought us into line with best practise throughout the EU.

These fees have been raised despite the fact that shooters receive precisely nothing in return for our licence fees.

These fees have been raised by over 50% in most cases. From January 2008, our members will be expected to hand over €170 for every air rifle, air pistol, .22 rifle or .22 pistol they wish to licence. Since many of our members would have several of these (in the same way that a golfer would not have just one golf club), many of them are facing fees in excess of €500.

Despite the introduction of training licences to allow us to introduce young people to the sport of Olympic target shooting, we will be seeing fewer now enter the sport because the fee for the training licence has been raised to €170; and since both the young person and their parent must have a licence under the scheme, the total cost for entry for a young person to pay has risen from €38 to €340, an increase of 895%.

The fee for a range licence has been set at €1000, despite the fact that the standards for ranges have not yet been set, and despite the chief range inspector not having even been appointed as yet.

And anyone looking to take up Olympic pistol shooting has just seen €405 euro added to the cost they'll have to pay because that's how much the firearms dealer will have to pay simply to stock Olympic .22 calibre pistols. This means, of course, that many dealers simply won't stock them; thus raising costs even more when people wish to start in the sport.

These fees have very serious consequences for our sport, and seen in conjunction with the manner in which our submissions to the Minister for Justice were dealt with during the drafting of the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 (which changed the Firearms Acts fundamentally and completely), we are finding it very hard to believe that there is no bias against Olympic shooting from the Minister.

These fees do nothing to protect society from gun crime, as has been alleged; they merely make it harder for legitimate sportsmen and sportswomen to take part in sport. The Minister himself has said in the past that firearms legislation was too draconian and was in need of being relaxed; yet we are now being unfairly targeted by these fees and this legislation, immediately before a General Election when gun crime (which has nothing to do with our sport) is in the headlines.

This is a disgraceful thing, and is made all the more ironic by its timing, happening the week after the release by the Minister for Sport of a report from the Irish Sports Council and the ERSI which said that sport in Ireland was in danger of becoming the province of the wealthy elite and which called for efforts from NGBs to promote sport amongst the disadvantaged!

Already our members are starting to call on their local representatives. This is an issue which affects all shooters, throughout the country, who see that their counterparts in Northern Ireland pay €77 every five years for the same piece of paper we are now expected to pay €170 every three years for.

We are asking for you, as our representative in Dail Eireann, to call on the Minister for Justice to reduce these fees into line with Northern Ireland's fees and to adopt the "one shooter, one licence" model for licensing.

Thank you.

--
Mark Dennehy, Secretary
National Target Shooting Association ltd.

For Immediate Release

OLYMPIC SHOOTERS RIPPED OFF BY DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Dublin, April 6 -- The National Target Shooting Association today added its voice to the ranks of those in the target shooting sports who are angrily protesting the 50% hike in their licence fees which the Minister for Justice intends to introduce next year despite massive reductions in the cost of administering the licencing system.

At present, every year on August 1, Gardai all over the country must invest huge amounts of man-hours into processing applications for every legally held firearm in the country; over 250,000 at the present time. This time is utterly wasted. It does not make us safe. It does not reduce gun crime. It merely takes Gardai off the streets where the NTSA firmly believes they are required to combat Ireland's rising gun crime problems.

The new firearms certificates, introduced in the Firearms Act 2006, will now last for three years instead of one. The NTSA originally proposed the introduction of a five-year licence listing all firearms held by the licenced person, bringing Ireland into line with Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a bid to reduce paperwork and administrative costs.

The NTSA's proposed five-year licence would have meant that renewals would be reduced from 250,000 annually to approximately half that every five years, freeing up to 90% of those Gardai man-hours to be used to prevent gun crime instead of spending them on firearms licence paperwork.

The new three-year licences still licence the firearm instead of the owner; and without any form of study, dialogue, or notice, the price tag for the licences was increased this month from €38 to €170; an increase of 50% over the original per-annum fee.

This represents an enormous burden for target shooters. An individual who takes part in two or three olympic disciplines will be faced with a bill in excess of €500 every three years. A Junior shooter, starting off in the sport on one of the Minister's new training licences, faces a cost of €340 in licence fees alone. Not only must they get a licence, so must one of their parents as training licences do not permit juniors to own the firearm they train with. In addition to this, the clubs who support and train these athletes will also be faced with a bill of €1000 every five years in order to remain 'authorised'; a process that has yet to be defined by the government.

Ironically, these exorbitant fees were foisted onto olympic athletes in the same week as the Minister for Sport launched the Irish Sports Council and ESRI's "Fair Play? Sport and Social Disadvantage in Ireland" report, which showed that sport is becoming a pastime of the wealthy in Ireland.

Further, the fees for visiting target shooters have been raised to €57; the effect this will have on tourism as Olympic shooting teams choose another location other than the Republic for training camps for 2012 will be significant, and will cost us far more than €57.

The NTSA has striven to work with the Minister for Justice and support the new Firearms Act 2006; but cannot in conscience recommend these new fee structures to its members in light of the lack of consultation and the negative impact they will have on the sport.

The NTSA calls on the Minister for Justice to reduce his exorbitant fees to a more reasonable level and cites the fees paid in Northern Ireland, where a five-year licence costs only €77 - over 70% less than the equivalent cost per year in the Republic.

The NTSA further calls on the Minister for Justice to introduce a licensing system on the more sensible basis of 'one person, one license'. The current system is analogous to requiring an individual to carry a separate driving license for each car they may drive.

The NTSA, founded in 1994, is the National Governing Body for Olympic rifle and pistol target shooting in Ireland.

CONTACT DETAILS

Mark Dennehy
Secretary, NTSA
email: secretary@targetshootingireland.org
phone: 085 7747546
fax: 00 866 504 9073
web: http://www.targetshootingireland.org

ENDS

Review Process

The long-awaited review process got underway last night with the first review meeting in UCD. The goal for this meeting was to ensure everyone had a full understanding of why changes were needed, where the meetings with the members and the submissions and surveys pointed to for us to go, and what the NTSA's goal in going there was. Several further meetings will be needed to thrash out the finer details of how we fulfill the requirements set out by the consultations with shooters over the past few months; we'll keep you up to date on this as we progress and changes will be rolled out as soon as they are ready, rather than wait until all review work is completed.
Just a little more patience folks, we're almost there.

National Air Rifle Championships 2007

Damien Fagan, Mens Air Rifle National Champion 2007
and Susan Cunningham, Womens and Junior Air Rifle National Champion 2007

The nationals ran quite smoothly; UCD Rifle Club's recent upgrades to the range were well appreciated by all and made the day a good success from the logistical point of view. Scores and attendance levels were down from previous years however, especially in the AR60 match. Hopefully this will improve in the coming years. The finals in the AR60 match were very close indeed, with the three medallists tying on 566 after the qualification round. In fact, while Damien charged ahead early and was never really in doubt for the Gold medal after the third or fourth shot, the race for Silver came down to the last shot between Shane Flynn and Sean Baldwin, with a tiny margin in the end of 0.8 of a point.

The AR40 finals were less close, with a good gap between medallists right from the qualification round. Susan was only two points ahead of Ciara but since Ciara was headed to the US the night of the qualification round, she couldn't compete in the finals, leaving five points between Susan and Paula for the gold and silver medals, and a good 19 points then to Elizabeth for the bronze.

Here are the final results from the 2007 Air Rifle Nationals. Names in bold indicate medal winners; names in italics indicate finalists.

AR60

Name	Club		Series
Name	Club	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	1st 40	Total	Final Total	Place
Fagan Damien	WTSC	A	92	96	93	93	96	96	374	566	664.6	1
Flynn Shane	WTSC	B	91	95	94	99	94	93	379	566	659.6	2
Baldwin Sean	Army	A	95	92	93	97	96	93	377	566	658.8	3
O'Donohoe Joe	Army	B	92	90	89	95	95	94	366	555	651.6
Nash Iain	DURC	B	88	90	96	97	93	89	371	553	640.3
Dunne Mike	DURC	C	94	94	91	84	89	90	363	542	634.6
Fleming Daniel	WTSC	B	88	93	91	91	90	88	363	541	633.1
Kane Ray	Army	A	91	95	95	92	95	96	373	564	564
McFadden Sean	WTSC	A	91	87	93	90	91	88	361	540	540
O'Hagan Jim	WTSC	B	90	90	89	93	90	87	362	539	539
McEllistrem Brian	UCDRC	B	91	82	90	90	92	87	353	532	532
Raval Rajkumar	UCDRC	B	82	86	83	84	90	85	335	510	510
Baconin Thomas	UCDRC	C	80	86	80	86	85	88	332	505	505
Frederich von Westenholt	UCDRC	D	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	DNS
Ben Speaker	UCDRC	C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	DNS
Seamus Feeney	DURC	D	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	DNS

AR40

Name	Club		Series				Total	Final Total	Place
Name	Club	Class	1	2	3	4	Total	Final Total	Place
Cunningham Susan	WTSC	A	95	95	94	97	381	482	1
Cunningham Paula	WTSC	A	92	96	95	93	376	471.6	2
O'Hagan Elizabeth	WTSC	B	85	89	90	91	355	448.9	3
Cunningham Laura	WTSC	D	77	77	78	77	309	404
Lyczak Dominique	DURC	D	83	81	81	77	322	401.1
Lawlor Catriona	DURC	D	81	72	77	70	300	382.3
Gaffney Ciara	UCDRC	B	94	92	96	97	379
O'Keefe Edel	UCDRC	D	78	77	78	72	305
Fogarty Laura	DURC	D	79	71	64	79	293
Lyons Emma	UCDRC	B	90	0	0	0	90	DNF

AR Juniors

Name	Club	Series				Total	Place
Name	Club	1	2	3	4	Total	Place
Cunningham Susan	WTSC	95	95	94	97	381	1
Flynn Shane	WTSC	91	95	94	99	379	2
Cunningham Paula	WTSC	92	96	95	93	376	3
Fagan Damien	WTSC	92	96	93	93	374
Dunne Mike	DURC	94	94	91	84	363
O'Hagan Jim	WTSC	90	90	89	93	362
McFadden Sean	WTSC	91	87	93	90	361
O'Hagan Elizabeth	WTSC	85	89	90	91	355
Baconin Thomas	UCDRC	80	86	80	86	332
Lyczak Dominique	DURC	83	81	81	77	322
Cunningham Laura	WTSC	77	77	78	77	309
O'Keefe Edel	UCDRC	78	77	78	72	305
Lawlor Catriona	DURC	81	72	77	70	300
Fogarty Laura	DURC	79	71	64	79	293
Frederich von Westenholt	UCDRC	0	0	0	0	0	DNS
Seamus Feeney	DURC	0	0	0	0	0	DNS

AR Classes

Name	Club		Series				Total	Place
Name	Club	Class	1	2	3	4	Total	Place
Cunningham Susan	WTSC	A	95	95	94	97	381	A1
Baldwin Sean	Army	A	95	92	93	97	377	A2
Cunningham Paula	WTSC	A	92	96	95	93	376	A3
Fagan Damien	WTSC	A	92	96	93	93	374
Kane Ray	Army	A	91	95	95	92	373
McFadden Sean	WTSC	A	91	87	93	90	361
Gaffney Ciara	UCDRC	B	94	92	96	97	379	B1
Flynn Shane	WTSC	B	91	95	94	99	379	B2
Nash Iain	DURC	B	88	90	96	97	371	B3
O'Donohoe Joe	Army	B	92	90	89	95	366
Fleming Daniel	WTSC	B	88	93	91	91	363
O'Hagan Jim	WTSC	B	90	90	89	93	362
O'Hagan Elizabeth	WTSC	B	85	89	90	91	355
McEllistrem Brian	UCDRC	B	91	82	90	90	353
Raval Rajkumar	UCDRC	B	82	86	83	84	335
Lyons Emma	UCDRC	B	90	0	0	0	90	DNF
Dunne Mike	DURC	C	94	94	91	84	363	C1
Baconin Thomas	UCDRC	C	80	86	80	86	332	C2
Ben Speaker	UCDRC	C	0	0	0	0	0	DNS
Lyczak Dominique	DURC	D	83	81	81	77	322	D1
Cunningham Laura	WTSC	D	77	77	78	77	309	D2
O'Keefe Edel	UCDRC	D	78	77	78	72	305	D3
Lawlor Catriona	DURC	D	81	72	77	70	300
Fogarty Laura	DURC	D	79	71	64	79	293
Frederich von Westenholt	UCDRC	D	0	0	0	0	0	DNS
Seamus Feeney	DURC	D	0	0	0	0	0	DNS

Photos from the day are being kindly hosted by the Wilkinstown Target Shooting Club here until some technical issues with our website are sorted out.

Some highlights from the day:

Equipment Control underway...

UCD's new projection system working well

Last detail underway...

...and under observation by the coaches!

Mens final about to start

Women's Final underway...

And the first shot from Catriona Lawlor is a perfect 10.9...

Women's finalists after the finals

Men's finalists after the finals.

A very quick thank you to all the competitiors and helpers at this years Air Rifle Championships. This years match ran very smoothly and the finals were very exciting.

Congratulations are extended to all the medal and class winneres. Well done all.

I wish to thank the UCD Club for the use of their facility and for the works they have undertaken to develop their range. The computer system now makes the background work very easy and accessible. The projector for the finals makes the event very spectator friendly and tense.

Thanks again to the all the unnmaed heros in mininorty sports, without whom, the world would be so much duller. Those who look after entries, those who sort targets, those who R/O, those who cover the Stats office, those who watch the timing, those who make the tea, those whose shoulders are needed sometimes. The anxious, excited and proud parents. The partners who bite their lips and hold thier breath when you really shouldn't have taken that shot. The satisfaction of a ten and the cheer for a 10.9. What can I say? magic! Bless you all.

Geoff Cooney,

NTSA Airgun Coordinator

National Air Pistol Championships 2007

Tim Scannell, Air Pistol National Champion 2007

Again, the nationals ran quite smoothly with UCD Rifle Club's recent upgrades to the range improving the logistical side of things immensely. Scores and attendance levels were up on last year, but this is still clearly an event in its fledgling state in Ireland. Hopefully this will improve in the years to come.

The finals were incredibly close, making the AR40 finals last weekend seem relaxed by comparison. The top four finalists were all within seven points of one another, which in air pistol is nothing. However, despite a massive effort from Raj Raval, Tim Scannell held his nerve and his lead by the smallest of margins, winning the Gold medal for the new Kingdom rifle club in Castlemaine, Co.Kerry, by only 0.4 points.

Raj, because he does not hold an Irish passport, was not eligible for the Silver medal in the nationals; however he will be awarded a special prize by the NTSA for his excellent performance in the match and a letter will be sent to the Indian target shooting NGB to verify his placing in the match.

Joe Conroy, of the Fermoy Rifle Club, at his very first public match in air pistol no less, took the Silver medal home to Cork, beating Joe O'Donoghue into Bronze position by four points.

This was the first 10-shot finals to be held in an air pistol match in the state, and also saw the first shoot-off to break a tie between Sean Baldwin and Roisin Eivers of the Modern Pentathlon Association of Ireland who were attending an NTSA air pistol match for the first time; so a day of firsts all round!

Here are the final results from the 2007 Air Pistol Nationals. Names in bold indicate medal winners; names in italics indicate finalists.

Qualifications
1	Scannell	Tim	Kingdom	88	89	86	86	90	88	527
2	Raval	Raj	UCDRC	84	84	91	91	88	87	525
3	Conroy	Joe	Fermoy	92	91	84	82	90	84	523
4	O'Donoghue	Joe	ATSC	87	82	86	86	92	87	520
5	Skelly	Thomas	WTSC	77	85	83	88	78	87	498
6	Eivers	Roisin	MPAI	82	86	84	79	78	86	495
7	Rice	Pat	Comber	83	84	75	84	82	85	493
8	Baldwin	Sean	ATSC	79	85	84	75	83	85	491
9	Lawless	Shauna	MPAI	75	83	86	80	74	81	479
10	Coyle	Natalya	MPAI	72	59	90	69	88	80	458
11	Murphy	Nicola	WTSC	75	78	70	78	84	67	452

Finals
				Qual	Final	Total
1	Scannell	Tim	Kingdom	527	91	618
2	Raval	Raj	UCDRC	525	92.6	617.6
3	Conroy	Joe	Fermoy	523	86.2	609.2
4	O'Donoghue	Joe	ATSC	520	85.2	605.2