Legalise fireworks?

TeddyTedson

Should the government legalise fireworks to make a bit of tax cash?
Seems stupid they're not seeing as anyone who wants fireworks can easily get their hands on them.
Should they legalise them, at least during the halloween period?

TeddyTedson

This sort of thing.

hatrickpatrick

It's a bit like pot I guess - people are going to do it whether the government likes it or not. Legalization is the clear lesser of two evils, as you can make sure they pass quality control and are taxed, and don't fund criminal gangs / smugglers.

Ireland is an absolutely ridiculous country when it comes to banning things. The number of stuff which is banned here but can be bought freely in the UK is absolutely insane. Did you know that a lot of health supplements and herbal supplements like tribulus and anything with more than 100% RDA of Vitamin B12 are also banned here? I remember the fuss a few years ago when No Xplode and Animal Pak were banned from gym shops because they had "too many vitamins in them".

It's astonishing to think that this country over regulates so damn much for things which hardly matter at all, like supplements and category 2 fireworks, then fails to regulate the things which actually matter, like the entire feckin' economy!!!

I'll give you one more example: The phone hacking scandal. What's the Irish government's response? Oh yeah - BAN remote access altogether rather than working to regulate it properly.

Pathetic and exceedingly irritating for just abut everyone.

AhSureTisGrand

^ raw milk's another one. They're hard at work getting that banned too

murphaph

In Germany you can legally buy them in the run up to New Year, banned the rest of the year unless you have a licence. Ireland could and should do the same for Halloween and possibly New Year too. It would see then end of the dodgier (read:often dangerous) Chinese fireworks, see cheaper fireworks available to consumers and a few quid VAT for the government. The ONLY losers would be the hucksters on Moore St/Henry St/Mary St!!

gurramok

Was the banning brought in at the time of the Troubles? Something to do with explosives i think. Anyone any idea?

Jagle

gurramok wrote: »

Was the banning brought in at the time of the Troubles? Something to do with explosives i think. Anyone any idea?

no it was about the time people were having fun with them.

but i agree, legalisation would be the lesser of two evils in this case.
people are gonna get them, id rather the money goes to putting money into the economy rather then taking it out of it

gurramok

Jagle wrote: »

no it was about the time people were having fun with them.

but i agree, legalisation would be the lesser of two evils in this case.
people are gonna get them, id rather the money goes to putting money into the economy rather then taking it out of it

I totally agree and have stated this for years

Ah I was half right Law was originally brought in 1875 in relation to explosives http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=fireworks%20law&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CFgQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justice.ie%2Fen%2FJELR%2FFireworksPolicy.pdf%2FFiles%2FFireworksPolicy.pdf&ei=Sf2nTp6eJIGWhQeqgsmoDg&usg=AFQjCNEthWZ5XjfLQ7wlfslt1lP0cjK-Ug&cad=rja

and updated in 2010..
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/criminal_law/criminal_offences/the_law_on_fireworks.html

Under the amended legislation the following are offences:

If you ignite a firework or cause it to be ignited in any place, you are guilty of an offence. The offence of igniting a firework can take place anywhere and not just in a public place. It can include the garden of a private house.
If you throw, direct or propel an ignited firework at or towards someone else or at property, you are guilty of an offence.
If you have a firework with the intention of selling or supplying it to someone else (and you don't hold a licence to import it) you are guilty of an offence.

If you are found guilty of any of the above offences you are liable:

On summary conviction (in the District Court) to a maximum fine of €2,500 or to imprisonment for up to 6 months or to both.
On conviction on indictment (in the Circuit Court) to a maximum fine of €10,000 or to imprisonment for up to 5 years or to both.

Ridiculous law(parts 1 and 3) for low level fireworks and it has had zero affect on the demand for generations. Legalise it and let the cash flow to the exchequer.

Jagle

but if it was legal and you had to be an adult to buy them, then we could teach and practice safe use of said fireworks, given them to 16 year olds who buy them off a mates cousin is exactly how people end up losing hands and fingers, if we were to use them with adult supervision blah blah blah we could all be alot safer

Chuck Stone

Guy Fawkes ruined it for us.

Why do people always have 'it will make a bit of money for the government' as the principle rationale for legalising something? Why would we want to generate more revenue for those self-absorbed sociopaths to squander?

Fireworks should be legal so that people are free to choose whether they want to buy them or not..

Jagle

because its an easy statement to make when people realise that the only thing you do by making them illegal is supply gangs/criminals or anyone else with money, while if it was legal it would go to the government(i know not the best people to give it to, but for those in charge who change laws its the only thing that opens their ears, the sound of money)

same case in point for drugs too btw

SeanW

Unfortunately I'm starting to think this FG/Labour government is far more authoritarian than FF ever was. So don't expect any more common sense here. Just mindless BANS.

FreudianSlippers

OP must want to celebrate Diwali in style!

T-Maxx

I for one hate the stuff, so my answer would be a big NO to legalising it. Sad thing though is that in most cases surely it's the parents who give it to their kids?

I/we/our house have just been targeted too many times for me to even give a damn about some kid blowing him/herself to pieces.

Jagle

T-Maxx wrote: »

I for one hate the stuff, so my answer would be a big NO to legalising it. Sad thing though is that in most cases surely it's the parents who give it to their kids?

I/we/our house have just been targeted too many times for me to even give a damn about some kid blowing him/herself to pieces.

I hate drink, but ive no problem with it being legal within our country as for the greater good its better.

surely to have fireworks sold legally, in shops to adults over lets say 25, would that really make things worse then anyone being able to buy fireworks of any quality from a market or the back of a van?

Chuck Stone

I think the state should set up a Dept of Fireworks to ensure that everyone has their fair share of fireworks.

You could have a degree program in the universities that would train people to go out and assess the need for fireworks in families.

Fire work exclusion is no laffin matter.

Hotblack Desiato

A working group could be set up to examine the issue of relative firework poverty, where you have one firework and the boy next door has two, causing lifelong psychological trauma.

Those who have prematurely set off all their fireworks and have nothing left to see them through Halloween can seek emergency assistance from their Community Firework Welfare Officer.

Chuck Stone

Oh man that is ^^ so full of LOL.

dsmythy

The thought of the local scum getting their hands on plentiful and cheaper fireworks fills me with dread.

T-Maxx

dsmythy wrote: »

The thought of the local scum getting their hands on plentiful and cheaper fireworks fills me with dread.

My thoughts exactly.

hatrickpatrick

They can't get much cheaper than they are already, surely?
Hypothetically speaking, if I had gone up to Joansborough in October 2006 (the height of the boom), and hypothetically speaking, if I had gone looking for a trailer selling the Diamond Fireworks brand, and hypothetically speaking if I had purchased this humungous box:


Then hypothetically, it would only have cost me a hypothetical €50. (about 40 gigantic hypothetical barrages in it).

Not, of course, that an upstanding citizen such as myself would ever do such a thing, or indeed condone it being done by anyone else. I'll have you know that this entire hypothetical scenario disgusts me, in fact.

Good thing it's hypothetical.

TeddyTedson

I'd hypothetically buy some fireworks for Christmas and New Years eve. They're great for party occasions. Everyone gets excited when the fireworks are about to be blown up.

RichieC

T-Maxx wrote: »

I for one hate the stuff, so my answer would be a big NO to legalising it. Sad thing though is that in most cases surely it's the parents who give it to their kids?

I/we/our house have just been targeted too many times for me to even give a damn about some kid blowing him/herself to pieces.

Should everything you don't like be banned?

Jimmy Garlic

Ireland is a sh1t place to live in an awful lot of ways. You can't buy fireworks, blasphemy illegal, RTE, Bertie is not rotting in prison, the hand-wringing PC ninnys, everything is a ripoff etc etc etc. I am very sorry I didn't GTFO years ago and say to hell with the place.

cavedave

Michael Collins didn't die fighting the English at Clontarf so that we could all have five fingers. Lets use the freedom he fought for wisely and take back us our god given right to need to have people open our bottles for us

Hotblack Desiato

Basically the government does not trust its citizens to act like adults. Hence, our stupid licensing laws, and a long list of things legal in most other countries banned here (even things that grow wild here and that have been consumed on this island for thousands of years.)

Jimmy Garlic

ninja900 wrote: »

Basically the government does not trust its citizens to act like adults. Hence, our stupid licensing laws, and a long list of things legal in most other countries banned here (even things that grow wild here and that have been consumed on this island for thousands of years.)

That is about the sum of it.

pconn062

ninja900 wrote: »

Basically the government does not trust its citizens to act like adults. Hence, our stupid licensing laws, and a long list of things legal in most other countries banned here (even things that grow wild here and that have been consumed on this island for thousands of years.)

Yes totally agree, it's going back to the nanny state mindset. Same reason why there will be a minimum price set on alcohol next year, we can't be trusted to drink sensibly. Because some people take advantage of cheap drink we all have to suffer. I think legalising fireworks is a good idea if it could be properly regulated ie if you stop kids getting their hands on them.

Cardinal Richelieu

You still need a license from the Garda to buy a ton of Potassium Nitrogen. Disgraceful.

Jimmy Garlic

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

You still need a license from the Garda to buy a ton of Potassium Nitrogen. Disgraceful.

You are thinking of ammonium nitrate. Every butcher in the country uses potassium nitrate as a preservative (the main ingredient in black powder). Afaik they don't need a license to buy it....yet.

BlaasForRafa

they should absolutely legalise them, I'd love a go at sledgehammer fireworks, mexican style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol7N3tfFXTM

Cardinal Richelieu

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

You are thinking of ammonium nitrate. Every butcher in the country uses potassium nitrate as a preservative (the main ingredient in black powder). Afaik they don't need a license to buy it....yet.

Nope I am thinking of potassium nitrate(saltpeter), used in the horticulture industry and with greater bang than the field fertilizers used in the barrack busters. And yes you do need a license(circa 1986) so I presume butchers do too.

fireworkking23

its fairly annyoing having to be giving your money to these dodgy fellas up north when you could be giving it to legit shops in the rep. of Ireland. Emangine how many jobs it would make! The street dealers would go out of bussiness and there be no one to sell them to chidren.Were supposed to be a happy nation? yet the goverment ban every product known to man...