Culture of violence - Murder rate stands at 85-year high

THE rise in the murder and manslaughter rate has reached alarming proportions. This year’s murder rate has surpassed 70 for the first time since the Civil War of 1922-1923.

To date 74 people have been murdered in this country since the beginning of the year. This is up on the 68 murders in 2006. It amounts to an increase of almost 9%.

At the rate that murders have been occurring, it would be rather presumptuous, even at this stage in the dying hours of 2007, to assume that last night’s figure will hold until midnight tonight.

In 1974, the murder rate for the year was 57 people, including the 31 people killed in the Dublin and Monaghan car bombings on just one day.

Yet the figure for this year, without such an outrage, is already almost 30% higher than for that year, which was considered appalling at the time.

The greater Dublin area still has the highest figure in the country, with a murder rate of 3.7 people per 100,000 population, compared with three per 100,000 throughout the 15 original states of the European Union.

This is a figure of which we should all be thoroughly ashamed, because it is a sad reflection, not only on our Government but also on ourselves as a nation.

The increase cannot be merely attributed to a rise in gangland killings, because gangland murders apparently declined this year — down to 16 from a high of 26 in 2006.

The increase in the number of stabbings has been the most frightening development. Knife attacks more than doubled during 2007 — from 18 in 2006 to 37 so far this year.

Even more alarming has been the manner in which these murders have spread throughout the country. There were fatal knife attacks in every country in Munster, which accounted for 40% of the fatal stabbings nationally.

Limerick has received bad press over the years for knife attacks, but Tipperary accounted for three times as many stabbing murders this year. There were six fatal stabbings in Tipperary, three in Cork, while Limerick and Clare had two each.

With gangland killings down, questions must be asked about the rise in other murders. So many have been taking place in the early hours of the morning after parties, that questions must be asked if those have something to do with a change in our culture.

There are strong suspicions that many are related to drug taking, either in the form of being impaired by alcohol or indulging in harder drugs.

There has undoubtedly been a change in our pub culture, as a result of the smoking ban and the crackdown on drink driving, as well as the high price of drink in pubs, compared with off-licences. This has led to more people drinking at home, or at house parties, often into the early hours of the morning. Has our burgeoning drinking culture also sparked a rise in violent attacks?

There has also undoubtedly been a growth in the knife culture, which may well be facilitated by the availability of knives in domestic settings.

We need to be more fully aware of the implications of such cultural changes.