Fee hike for firearms licence holders could be 'resurrected' in future - SDLP MLA warns
A huge hike in fees charged to gunowners in Northern Ireland has gone away for the foreseeable future, but could be “resurrected” in the next Assembly, an SDLP MLA has warned.
Patsy McGlone’s comments come after the justice minister Naomi Long announced that a consultation on hiking firearms licence fees had been withdrawn.
The matter was discussed at Stormont’s justice committee on Thursday, where officials suggested that the issue would not be revisited during this mandate.
The SDLP MLA told the News Letter: “Based on what we heard today, first of all, there's a huge sense of relief in the shooting community that the hike, the huge hike, is not now going ahead for the foreseeable future.
“The officials today said that it may not be within this mandate, which is less than 12 months anyway. So that's that's a huge sense of relief for people.
“But we will have to keep a close watch on it, because I have no doubt that it will resurrect itself again”.
Mr McGlone said the department was trying to extract money to fill a funding shortfall from the people who pay the fees.
“But the message was loud and clear, if people pay a fee they do expect an efficient service”, he said.
On Wednesday, the department said it had shelved a consultation to achieve full cost recovery of firearms licensing, including increasing the cost of a firearm certificate from £98 to £250.
Justice minister Naomi Long said: “It's important to listen when you consult. The issues around cost recovery remain key, but questions raised about the consultation and data led me to decide to withdraw it and engage further with stakeholders with a view to launching a new consultation to get a better outcome”.
Launching a consultation on her plans earlier this year, Minister Long said firearms licensing has been heavily subsidised by the PSNI’s mainstream funding, and therefore the taxpayer. Her department had said that the public’s views on the matter would “play an important role” in shaping the outcome.
DUP Policing Board member Trevor Clarke has said that proceeding with the plans in advance of a thorough analysis of FEB’s (Firearms and Explosives Branch) performance, staffing levels, and resourcing needs risked reaching conclusions that are not evidence-based.
He said the proposed increases were “excessive” and would represent an “unfair and disproportionate attack on farm businesses”.