So it has been around a month now since the 2020 AGM.
We are starting to see some progress on Vaccine rollout both North and South – and hopefully will start to get some visibility on when we can once again go to our ranges.
We received a request from the Sports Coalition to contribute to their representations to the Dept of Justice to re-open ranges – Please have a read of our contribution.
We will try to update you once a month on what has been happening – some months may be a lot, some may be quiet.
We have scheduled the first Quarterly Governing Body meeting of 2021 for 8pm Friday March 12th On Zoom.
Hopefully all clubs will be able to attend.
We will send out an official invite to all clubs, with the draft agenda, later today, as per the rules.
Please take the opportunity to ask questions or propose changes, that you feel benefit the sport on a National basis.
Things for you to do
2021 Affiliations
The treasurer is in the process of organising invoices for affiliation renewals 2021 but in the meantime
Feel free to forward the completed affiliation form and affiliation fee (€ 200.00) by post to him: Contact treasurer@nasrpc.ie for postal details.
Alternatively transfer the fee to NASRPCs bank (IBAN: IE66 AIBK 9330 2333 1973 56 & BIC: AIBKIE2D) and e-mail your affiliation form to treasurer@nasrpc.ie
The form can be downloaded from the NASRPC constitution, which is available on the NASRPC website.
National Competition
Choose a date when you can host a National Competition. Start planning for it – Who will do what jobs? What do you need? etc.
We know, COVID can change all our plans … but only if we have plans … better to be positive and assume the best.
Once they let us all out from under our rocks – lets be ready to hit the ground running.
We all shot our first National as a Home match – you all have members who have never shot in a National before – this is how you best provide that opportunity for them.
Details below.
PSNI Visitor Permits
Be sure to let your members know to apply for their PSNI Visitor Permits, good and early so they can attend events in Northern Ireland, once we are permitted.
Every year we have a National in Bracken, we also have a Donegal National, which uses the ranges in Bracken. The next Irish Open is also in Bracken.
It only costs €20 for the year – and then they are good to go.
They can then go to any event they like in the north for the whole year.
But it is not always possible to get a permit, closer to the event.
Details Below.
British Visitor Permits
If any of your members intend to attend any matches in Britain this year – such as; The Phoenix in Bisley, Tog out for Ireland in the British IGRF or ITSF matches, Or any other events …
be sure to have them apply for their Visitor Permit (They are different from the PSNI One).
It only costs between £10 and £35 for the year – and they are good to go.
If they have their permit they can go to any event they like, at the drop of hat.
But it is not always be possible to get a permit closer to the event.
Be sure to review and let us know if we have missed anything.
National Executive Meetings We held the first meeting of the National Executive on 17th February where a range of topics were discussed. Primarily this was Housekeeping tasks – but we also kicked off the
2021 Irish Open Working Group and the
Sport Ireland Recognition Working Group
We again met on the 20th of February for a single item – to agree the Bank Signatories for the Bank Mandate, to ensure NASRPC will ne able to pay its bills. throughout the year. it requires the Treasurer, plus one other, to authorise a payment.
Pat Fox/CSG (Hon. Treasurer)
Pat O’Mahony/An Riocht (Chair)
Nigel Barrett/Hilltop (Hon Secretary)
Child Protection Officer
As there were no candidates put forward by the members at the recent AGM, for election to the Role of “Child Protection Officer”; We, the National Executive, have been seeking people willing to do the work.
We have co-opt’ed Hans Eckhardt/Hilltop Shooting Club to the role of CPO.
Hans teaches chemistry in UCD so already has experienced all the Child Protection criteria, Garda Vetting etc. As it is a National Executive Position – You will need to ratify this appointment at the next GovBody meeting
We are also required to ask you if you have any candidates willing to do the work, who you also wish to propose, in which case we need to hold an election at that meeting.
National Development Officer
As there were no candidates put forward by the members at the recent AGM, for election to the Role of “National Development Officer”; We, the National Executive, have been seeking people willing to do the work.
We have co-opt’ed Tony McGinley/Bracken Gun Club to the role of NDO.
Tony has been helping out with NASRPC for many years and will bring a fresh perspective to the role, As it is a National Executive Position – You will need to ratify this appointment at the next GovBody meeting
We are also required to ask you if you have any candidates willing to do the work, who you also wish to propose, in which case we need to hold an election at that meeting.
FCP & SC
We have re-appointed Pat O’Mahony/An Riocht (Chairman), as the NASRPC representative to the Firearms Consultative Panel (FCP) and also to the Sports Coalition
National Discipline Co-ordinators
We have been informed that the following people have volunteered to develop their particular discipline across the NASRPC in 2021.
Prone Rifle : John P Walsh / Eagle Rifle & Pistol Club
Target Pistol : Neil O’Malley / IPA Pistol Club
Gallery Rifle Centrefire : Jeff Kehoe / IPA Pistol Club
Gallery Rifle Smallbore : Ian McGill / MNSCI
Target Shotgun : Dean Parker / IPA Pistol Club
We wish to thank them for volunteering and look forward to developments in their areas in the coming year.
We will require you to ratify their positions at the next Governing Body meeting.
We have a proposal in the pipes to define the role of a National Discipline Co-ordinator – it has been sent to the current volunteers for comment – ahead of putting it to you for adoption. It should make it clearer for those who have already volunteered and those who have yet to volunteer, what is expected of them.
IGRF
Following discussions we have asked
Karl O’Brien/CIPC (Competitions@)
Ian McGill/MNSCI (GRSBNDC@)
Daniel O’Flaherty/Lough Bo (GRSBTeamCapt@)
to represent NASRPC on the International Gallery Rifle Federation (IGRF) Council for 2021
Once they have all confirmed their willingness to do so, we will let you know
ITSF
Following discussions we have asked
Dean Parker/IPAPC (TSGNDC@)
Ian McGill/MNSCI (GRSBNDC@)
Tony Quane/MTSC
to represent NASRPC on the International Target Shotgun Federation (ITSF) Council for 2021
Once they have all confirmed their willingness to do so, we will let you know
IT Help
We have also co-opted Mark McCandless/Courtlough to help out with the Website and IT matters. You all know Mark and that he will work hard for the members and the sport.
While this is not an official NASRPC position, we will still ask you to ratify his position at the next Governing Body meeting.
Mark, Eugene (PRO) and Mick (Asst Sec) will review the website and see what we can do to modernise it between them.
It was also suggested that we outsource the development and maintenance of the website to a 3rd party – but that will require you to sign off on a budget before we could approach suppliers – so we declined the suggestion.
National Development
While we have been very fortunate to have Tony McGinley/Bracken volunteer to work in this area – we also intend to form a Subcommittee to deal with certain aspects of it, which could have long term implications for the Association and, as such, should have many shoulders put to the wheel.
5 Year Strategic Plan We will be looking at producing a 5 year plan for NASRPC. Asking the question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
We will start with the National Executive –
then ask each of the National Discipline Co-ordinators to contribute on behalf of their particular discipline.
then seek input from you, and your members
then seek input from competitors
and finally the public (Social Media)
We will collate all of these findings and present it to you.
then the real work starts … to make it happen.
Of course a large part of that will be seeking Sport Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland recognition for our sport – as discussed at the 2020 AGM.
Sport Ireland and Sport NI To start with, this Subcommittee will review what is required of the NASRPC in order to be suitable for recognition by Sport Ireland or Sport Northern Ireland.
So far we have Invited NatExec members, NDCs and some members of Bracken (for their expertise in relation to Sport NI) We have held a first meeting and agreed some work to parcel out – we will keep you informed of progress.
We would welcome others, who have experience in dealing with Sport Ireland or Sport Northern Ireland – and can help take some of the workload – to also volunteer to be take part on that subcommittee.
Once completed, with your agreement, we will then embark on making any changes required, and applying for that recognition.
Competitions
Karl O’Brien – Competition’s Director
Unfortunately, the target shooting season has not got off to the best of starts. Following the trend of last year’s competitions, a number of matches have been postponed. CIPC and the TSG/1500 day have both been postponed to a later date.
The calendar of events is published online at nasrpc.ie and upcoming events are listed there. The clubs that have committed to holding competitions in the coming months are: · MNSCI (March) · Bracken (April) · MTSC (May) · An Riocht (June) · BRC (July) · ECSC (August) · Lough Bo (September) · Championship Finals (October)
At present, the Irish Open will be going ahead in early July in Bracken Projectile Club. As this club is in Northern Ireland, a visitor’s permit will be needed to attend. The process to obtain a visitor’s permit can take some time so please contact competitions@nasrpc.ie as soon as possible so that you can be advised of that process.
Other international competitions going ahead this year, COVID restrictions permitting, are the Phoenix at Bisley in May and the German Open in November.
The Phoenix match is well attended by Irish competitors and the International Target Shotgun Match will be held on the Friday of the match. The International Gallery Rifle competition will be held on the Monday. We hope that there will be plenty of opportunities for people to earn a position on the team. The selection process and criteria for the teams are located on the nasrpc.ie website.
The German Open will be held in November 2021. There is no shotgun at this event; however, both rifle and M1 are available. If you do not have an M1, one can be provided by the German hosts for use at the competition.
Ireland has a long standing reputation of excellence at these competitions and we hope that that this will continue for years to come. If you intend on travelling to either event, or, would like some information on these events, please contact chefdemission@nasrpc.ie with your query.
Coming Up
2021 Irish Open Working Group
This has begun and has its first meeting scheduled We do not know what July will bring – but we will be ready if we are allowed compete then.
If you feel you can contribute or share the workload be sure to get in contact – we will need all the help we can.
Queries
Restrictions on the use of Lead Ammunition
We have had queries from both BRC and CIPC regarding the proposed ban on the sale of Lead Ammunition, by the EC.
As it is to do with the sale of ammunition, as opposed to the use of it – it is not clear if NASRPC could do anything in this area. However, if it was to come to pass, it could have an effect on the ranges our member clubs are associated with.
As we have no experts in this field on the National Executive, we were unable to provide an update on this matter. We have sought information from the Group you formed last year to review these proposals, the Sports Coalition and some politicians.,
If you, or any of your clubs members, are well informed on this topic,
perhaps you could provide an update, that we could circulate to all the other member clubs.
Ideally an expert group, of people with the information and context, should be formed to keep us, and you, informed of developments in this area..
(For reference 5.6mm is metric for .22)
With respect to lead sold and used in hunting, sports shooting and other outdoor shooting, ECHA proposed the following:
A ban on the sale and use of lead shot for hunting with a five-year transition period and the option for Member States to derogate for sports shooting when releases into the environment are minimised.
A ban on the use of lead in rifle bullets with transitional periods:
18 months for any centre-fire calibre equal to and above 5.6mm
5 years for calibres less than 5.6mm centrefire (and rimfire in general). Derogations for continued use, if releases to the environment are minimised, i.e. when sports shooting ranges are equipped with bullet traps.
Military and other non-civilian uses of lead ammunition – such as by police, security and customs forces – are not included in the scope of the investigation. Indoor uses of lead ammunition are also excluded.
Today’s proposals arrive just one week after the publishing of the lead shot over wetlands’ restriction under REACH, having only received support from 52% of Members of the European Parliament, with some opposition at Council level.
Further details can be found here on the FACE website
National Association of Sporting Rifle & Pistol Clubs
