Re McGuigan
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
- Affidavit filed in connection with judicial review proceedings - Discovery of documents referred to in affidavit -Appellant bringing judicial review proceedings in respect of refusal of grant of firearm certificate -Affidavit sworn by police officer that refusal not based on policy of not granting firearms to Sinn Fein councillors - Whether appellant entitled to discovery of documents referred to in affidavit -Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order, 1981 (S.I. No. 155), art. 28 (2).
Following an attack by armed men upon his home the appellant, a Sinn Fein councillor, applied in March, 1992, to the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary for the grant of a firearm certificate to enable him to obtain a personal protection firearm and ammunition. By letter dated 22 June, 1992, the appellant was informed by the RUC that the application had been refused. The appellant appealed to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and by, letter dated 22 September, 1992, the appellant was informed that the Secretary of State had refused the appeal. The appellant applied for judicial review of the Secretary of State's decision on the ground, inter alia, that the refusal to grant him a firearm certificate was based on a policy of not granting such certificates to Sinn Fein councillors. In A replying affidavit the officer in charge of the firearms licensing branch of the RUC denied that there was any such policy and stated that the appellant had been refused a firearm certificate because the officer was not satisfied, on the basis of information in the possession of the chief constable, the nature of which and the sources of which it was not in the public interest to disclose, that the appellant was fitted to be entrusted with a firearm nor that he could be permitted to have the firearm or ammunition in his possession without danger to the public safety or to the peace pursuant to art. 28(2) of the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order, 1981. The officer stated that the fact that the appellant was a Sinn Fein councillor had been taken into account in determining whether he was a member of or in sympathy with any subversive organisation but that there was no policy that Sinn Fein councillors were excluded from the grant of a firearm certificate merely because they were Sinn Fein councillors. An assistant secretary in the Northern Ireland Office confirmed the position as set out by the officer in a further affidavit. The appellant...
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