Shotgun licence refusal appeal

A farmer appealed unsuccessfully against the refusal of a licence to hold a shotgun after a Garda Superintendent said there was an animal cruelty case against the man in the past where 15 harriers that strayed on to his land were wounded and one shot dead.

Superintendent Con Cadogan said a refusal of a firearm licence application was made where the applicant was considered to be not a suitable person to carry a firearm.

Supt Cadogan referred to a Cork District Court case from 2012 when 15 hounds from a harriers club strayed on to the land in 2009 — 15 of the hounds were injured and one was shot dead, the superintendent said.

Publican and farmer, Michael O’Connell, 54, of Ardnaleac, Ballinguilly, Ballincollig, Co Cork, said a compromise was reached in that case and he admitted charges of cruelty to animals and unlawfully and maliciously wounding dogs. He was given the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act on payment of €2,000 to Marymount hospice on that occasion.

In his decision not to allow Mr O’Connell’s appeal against the refusal of the firearm licence the judge described him as a highly articulate man and referring to his answer to the question of whether he had shot the dogs, the judge said, “he was economical with the truth, in a sense, saying it was never established who shot the animals.”

The appellant had a previous conviction for unlawful wounding of a young man in Ballincollig in 1984 and unlawful possession of a firearm on the same occasion, for which he received a two-year suspended jail sentence, Supt Cadogan said.

Mr O’Connell said the judge on that occasion did not order the revocation of his firearms licence.