Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Taoiseach if the Government would consider introducing a new weapons amnesty. The Taoiseach will recall that he was a member of a Cabinet that introduced an amnesty in 2006. That took hundreds of lethal weapons off the streets at the time - everything from shotguns to knives to all sorts of devices. I am very concerned at the level of knife crime in this city and throughout the country, currently. I feel that an amnesty would take many of those weapons off the streets but also, more importantly, it would create an awareness and discussion of the issue. It would lead to people, and young people in particular, being better educated on the dangers of carrying knives.

In the 15 years since the last amnesty, which was very progressive at the time, many more weapons, and firearms in particular, have come into the country. The introduction of an amnesty may be an opportunity to take them off the streets. Every weapon that we can take off the streets and put out of use is good work.

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