Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, Deputy O'Callaghan, on bringing the Bill before the Dáil. We, in Fianna Fáil, stand firmly behind him and hope the Bill will progress and make life a bit safer for people around the country. This is an important Bill, in that it will increase the maximum sentence which can be imposed for the possession of a knife with intent to harm which sends out a very strong signal that it is completely wrong to carry knives and we will not tolerate knife crime in this country.

While we acknowledge that there is a lack of available data on the prevalence of knife crime in the country, we have to ask, through the joint policing committees of which we are all members, that this area is examined and details are given. In my county, Kildare, an 18-year old was stabbed in April and a woman was attacked in February. Not far from where I live in Newbridge, a 20-year old woman, Kim Amy Smith, was threatened in an incident where a knife was held up to her face and her handbag cut with a knife. Luckily, she did not fight back because she was afraid of her face being marked. No county is immune to this type of crime and the Bill should help us to tackle it.

The CSO does not release statistics relating to the incidence of crimes involving the presence of knives because it is concerned that the PULSE database would yield inaccurate or misleading results. I cannot understand why that is the case. In the past few months four people were murdered through knife crime. A number of people were hospitalised following very serious attacks, which is shocking.

I commend the Garda. Having recognised the knife crime epidemic, it has announced plans to roll out a national anti-knives awareness campaign. That is welcome, but it is not enough. We in the House, as legislators, have to play our role in terms of introducing legislation which will help to tackle the increased level of knife crime. The provisions in the Bill will help to do that.

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