The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has said he does not believe large numbers of hardened criminals are going to avail of a gun amnesty announced this morning.
He said he was under no illusion that serious criminals are going to come forward and hand over their firearms.
Mr McDowell said, however, that he hoped the new facility might be helpful to others who have found it difficult to dispose of their firearms in the past.
His message was 'do the right thing and hand it in', saying the purpose of the amnesty is to give people an opportunity to hand in illegally-held guns and weapons before the introduction of more stringent laws in November.
Mr McDowell said he had no idea how many weapons would be recovered, but stressed that similar operations in the UK had proved successful.
Weapons that have been used for criminal purposes are excluded from the amnesty.
It is all part of the new Criminal Justice Bill, which provides for a limited weapons amnesty followed by the introduction of harsh penalties.
The amnesty has already met criticism from the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors. The AGSI says that while in general the association welcomes the amnesty, it does not think it will have any impact on crime.
But Government sources say a relatively high number of guns being used by gangs are stolen and that the amnesty is mainly aimed at taking these out of circulation.
