Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am interested in what the Minister of State said. I am aware of an instance in the UK where a knife amnesty was initiated. A family member of someone who carries a knife or someone who is aware of a knife in a household avails of an opportunity to drop the knife into a box, be it in a community centre, a police station or somewhere else that is safe. This takes some knives out of circulation and also, in part, just adds to the general conversation about knife crime. There is the practical part, namely, the demonstrable effect of taking knives out of circulation, but it also adds to the conversation. To widen this discussion a little, is there evidence that increasing sentences does anything? I hope it does because I would like it if the stiffer sentences for knife crime being spoken about would, if introduced, actually bring down the number of knife crimes. Is there evidence to suggest that such a strategy works? I would be interested to hear from anybody who has said it does.

See this speech in context