Firearm licence fee collection to be outsourced

THE Garda Síochána is looking to outsource the collection of certificate fees for the almost 250,000 licensed firearms around the country.

Gardaí have traditionally collected the fees for the firearms certificates on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners, but have now advertised for another company to carry out the function.

As of the end of last July there were 233,120 firearm certificates in the country, and the fees collected on the licences brought in €3.3 million for the Revenue in 2008.