35.— The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 9:

“Tax clearance.

9A.— (1) In this section—

“Act of 1997” means the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997;

“Collector-General” means the Collector-General appointed under section 851 of the Act of 1997;

“tax clearance certificate” means a certificate under section 1095 (as substituted by section 127(b) of the Finance Act 2002) of the Act of 1997.

(2) The Minister shall refuse to register a person in the register of firearms dealers or renew any such registration in respect of that person if that person is a person in relation to whom a tax clearance certificate is not in force.

(3) The Minister may nevertheless register a person in the register of firearms dealers or renew any such registration in respect of that person if—

(a) the person has, at least four months before applying for such registration or renewal, applied for a tax clearance certificate and it has been refused and an appeal against the refusal has been made under section 1094(7) of the Act of 1997 but not determined, and

(b) the Minister would, but for subsection (2), have registered that person in the register of firearms dealers or renewed any such registration in respect of the person.

(4) Where an appeal referred to in subsection (3) is made but is not successful, any registration or renewal of registration under that subsection shall expire 7 days after the appeal is determined or, where appropriate, finally determined.

(5) The Collector-General shall notify the Minister of any appeal against a refusal of an application for a tax clearance certificate and of the determination or, as appropriate, final determination of any such appeal.”.