§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) serving and (b) former members of the Royal Irish Regiment held personal protection firearms on 10 April; how many new weapons have been issued since then; and how many weapons have been handed in. [56296]
§ Mr. George Robertson[holding answer 3 November 1998]There are two types of Personal Protection Weapons (PPWs) which can be held by personnel of the Royal Irish Regiment (R IRISH). These are MOD-issued PPWs, and privately owned and purchased PPWs held on Fire Arms Certificates (FAC) which are issued and renewed every 3 years by the RUC Firearms Licensing Branch.
My Department does not hold details of R IRISH PPW holdings as at 10 April 1998. However, information on holdings based on returns collected from units between 21 April 1998 and 6 July are given in the table.
Table 1 MOD issued PPW PPWs held under Fire Arms Certificate Total 1,172 758 1,930 Details of PPW holdings as at 22 October 1998 are given in the table.
Table 2 MOD issued PPW PPWs held under Fire Arms Certificate Total 1,083 751 1,834 Table 2 shows holdings of 96 fewer PPWs on 22 October, than between 21 April and 6 July; this represents 97 weapons handed in, and one new weapon issued.
My Department does not hold records of PPW issued under Firearms Certificates to former members of R IRISH.