Two attacks highlight scourge of knife culture

Cormac O’Keeffe looks at a Garda initiative to tackle the problem

ONE young man dead, another lucky to be alive. Both victims of knife attacks.

Francis Heneghan was just 24. He leaves behind two young children, aged four and five, and his shattered partner.

His life came to a abrupt and violent end at around midnight on Tuesday on a laneway in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo. He’s believed to be the victim of local knife-wielding youths.

Superintendent Ronan Galligan, who is leading the probe into the incident, described it as “a mindless, senseless, violent act”.

His murder came less than three days after an undercover drug officer was stabbed while on duty in Westport, Co Mayo.

Garda Daryl Mullen was seriously injured, but it could have been worse if he was stabbed in the kidney or liver. A juvenile has been charged with assault causing harm.

The incidents highlight yet again the knife culture in Ireland and illustrate that it is both an urban and rural problem.

Knife crime was made a key priority in the Garda Policing Plan 2008.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office at the end of that year showed the number of people caught in possession of knives jumped by 86% between 2003 and 2007.

The number of murders involving knives increased more than five-fold, from five to 32.

The Government and the gardaí came under growing pressure to deal with the problem. Last February, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy launched the ‘How Big Do You Feel?’ campaign, specifically aimed at young people.

Figures released as part of the campaign showed that:

* A third of knife crimes happen in public areas and over a quarter happen in the home.

* More than one in six knife crimes occur in shops.

* Nine out of 10 knife crime offenders are male and seven out of 10 victims are male.

* Three out of 10 knife crime offenders are aged under 20 and one in seven victims are under 20.

The campaign has a number of elements, including a series of 12 road shows across the country, school visits by community gardaí and a website with links to social networking sites.

Gardaí said six of the road shows have taken place and that they will resume next month. The road shows feature talks by leading role models, including GAA and rugby stars.

“The role models describe situations where they had lost control on and off the pitch and what this had cost them,” explained a Garda spokesman.

“They discussed the consequences of their actions and how it is important to develop the discipline to learn from your mistakes.”

He said that between 60 and 120 pupils have attended each of these road shows and that feedback was very positive. He said they hoped to reach around 1,200 young people by the end of the road show.

In addition, 150 community gardaí have been given material to go into other schools and give presentations on knives. As well as that, gardaí are working with Copping On, an organisation that works with the Youth Diversion Programme, to devise exercises that address the issue of knives, gardaí hope to reach up to 5,000 young people, north and south, through this.

The campaign set up a website – www.howbigdoyoufeel.ie – with information and links to social network sites, Bebo, Facebook and Twitter.

The spokesman said Bebo had been the most successful and that more than 230 people had made friends with the campaign Bebo page. They hope to have tens of thousands of website and Bebo page visits.

Fine Gael’s Charlie Flanagan has said the road shows were “little more than a PR exercise” for Justice Minister Dermot Ahern.

He said the intention to build a profile on social networking sites had “fallen flat”.

He said the campaign was designed to deflect attention away from the “poor conviction rate” for knife crimes, standing at 32% between 2003 and 2008.