Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment my colleague, Deputy O'Callaghan, and thank him for his ongoing work on the important Bills he has brought forward during the term of the Dáil to make our country a safer place to live in.

Fianna Fáil is seeking cross-party support for this important Bill, which proposes to increase the maximum sentence which can be imposed for carrying a knife intended to injure a person from five to ten years thereby deterring people from carrying knives. Stronger deterrents are necessary in order to cut down on the growing knife culture in Ireland, in particular among younger people. Unfortunately, it is the case that a lot of people, in particular young men, think it is appropriate and sometimes necessary to carry knives. We need to send out a message that it is wholly unacceptable for anyone to carry knives for the purposes of inflicting harm on others, even if they think knives are necessary to defend themselves.

There is a lack of available data regarding the prevalence of knife crime in this country. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, does not release statistics relating to the incidence of crimes involving the presence of knives. It has a concern that information provided through the PULSE database would yield inaccurate or misleading results. Despite the lack of data, there is growing anecdotal evidence that a subculture has developed where carrying knives is acceptable.

In recent times, there have been a number of horrendous crimes involving knives where lives have been lost and life-altering injuries have occurred. Older people in rural areas feel especially vulnerable, in particular with the winter months and dark evenings approaching. The home of an 86-year old neighbour of mine was broken into recently. Thankfully, he was not at home. His savings were taken, his home was ransacked, bleach was poured everywhere and his home, his castle where he had lived all his life, was destroyed. There was no knife involved or face-to-face interaction, but the effects have been devastating. I can only imagine the after-effects for a person, young or old, who has been threatened by a knife. Having seen first-hand how this man's life has been cruelly destroyed in his latter years because of this horrific crime, I shudder to think what would have happened if he had been faced with an attacker with a knife. This is a culture we need to stamp out, and the Bill will send out a very clear message and act as a deterrent.

Knife crime cannot be dealt with in isolation. The prevalence of drug use also has a major part to play. Tackling the country's crippling drug problem requires major reforms to our approach. Every day we hear stories of individuals, families and communities around the country that have been devastated by drugs. Drug-related harm consistently clusters in communities marked by poverty and social inequality. These communities cannot survive if this continues. Nonetheless, we should not think that drug problems are simply confined to these communities. When a person is desperate for drugs and needs money to fuel an addiction, unfortunately knife crime can be used to attack or steal from a person.

I welcome that, in recognition of the epidemic in knife crime, the Garda recently announced plans to roll out a national anti-knife awareness campaign. This is welcome, but we, as legislators, must play our role in introducing legislation which will help to tackle the increased level of knife crime.

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