§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his estimate of the number of people in Northern Ireland who practise the sport of pistol target shooting; what were the number five years ago and 10 years ago; and, of these, what is his estimate as to how many are involved in (i) smallbore and (ii) fullbore shooting.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 13 November 1989]: The Chief Constable of the RUC has informed me that the current number of people claiming membership of authorised clubs for pistol target shooting is 1,433. It is not possible to differentiate between those people engaged in smallbore and those people engaged in fullbore pistol target shooting. However, there are 11 smallbore pistol shooting clubs and eight fullbore pistol shooting clubs. The information requested for earlier years is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.