FG demand policy to reduce knife crime
During a Dáil debate on violence in society last night, the party’s justice spokesman, Charles Flanagan, claimed the Government was not doing enough to tackle knife crime.
He said the Government had to complete a comprehensive review of the availability of knives and other offensive weapons “as a matter of urgency”.
It was still possible to walk into a shop and buy a samurai sword or other deadly weapons — a situation which could not be allowed to continue, Mr Flanagan warned.
“This easy availability facilitated a brutal attack in Finglas in January when a man’s hand was sliced off in a public house in full view of all the other customers.”
In addition, the Government needed to launch a dedicated operation to reduce knife crime, the Fine Gael TD said.
He pointed out that the British government had made a serious commitment to eradicating such crime, with police officers told to prosecute anyone caught with a knife.
A similar operation was required here, Mr Flanagan said.
“We need a specific, targeted response — a separate, special operation. Fine Gael is proposing a six-month operation that would involve dedicated officers, concentration on areas with high incidences of assault and serious antisocial behaviour, use of legislative provisions to stop and search suspects, and the introduction of additional mobile [Garda] units for the specific use of this new operation.”
Mr Flanagan also claimed the Government needed to do more to tackle violent crime more generally, as well as antisocial behaviour and drug and alcohol abuse.
He said the recent murders of Polish men Pawel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos in the Drimnagh area of Dublin had not been an isolated incident — pointing to a rise in murder, gun and knife crime, and assaults.
Earlier, Justice Minister Brian Lenihan had offered his condolences to the families of the two young men killed.
He said the Garda would “spare no resources” to find those responsible.
Mr Lenihan admitted the number of deaths involving knives and similar weapons was “a particular cause for concern” — the number of murders involving stabbing having doubled last year from 18 to 36.
He said he had requested the Garda to review the legislation dealing with offensive weapons to see if it needed strengthening.
Mr Lenihan also acknowledged that the use of offensive weapons was often “the end result of a pattern ofantisocial behaviour or the excessive consumption ofalcohol”.
To that end, combating public disorder, particularly alcohol-related misbehaviour, was one of the policing priorities he had set down for the gardaí this year.
