McDowell rejects FG criticism of recent weapons amnesty

The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has dismissed Fine Gael criticism of the recent weapons amnesty that took place ahead of new legislation governing firearms offences.

More than 600 weapons of varying descriptions were handed in to gardaí across the country during the amnesty, which came ahead of the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences for gun possession.

Fine Gael TD Jim O'Keefe has described the measure as a waste of time, saying the amount of weapons surrendered was tiny when compared with similar measures in other countries.

However, Mr McDowell said today that the Irish amnesty was different because it was not anonymous.

He also said Mr O'Keefe was failing to understand that the reason for the amnesty was to ensure that everyone affected by the new sentences had a chance to give up their illegal weapons.

The minister said nobody would be able to claim in future that their weapons had slipped their mind because the State had advertised the amnesty extensively.