Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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They were convicted. I do not know the circumstances. Many were convicted summarily. If a person is caught in possession of a knife and it is a first offence, I think the court is going to look sympathetically on that. However, the purpose here, and I am sorry to be repetitive, is, as the Taoiseach indicated, to send a stronger message in respect of the possession of knives with the intention to inflict harm on others. The danger is that if we do nothing about it, it becomes a phenomenon. It is more common in some other countries for people to carry knives frequently. We do not have that here and if we do nothing to try to confront it, it is inevitable that it is going to grow.