Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)

As has been said previously, there is a 17-year-old boy in the Mater in a critical condition because of a vicious stabbing on Sunday night. Earlier this year, an 11-year-old was stabbed by another school pupil and the horrible reality across many of our communities is that knife crime and the carrying of knives is very real. Unfortunately, in the communities I represent in the inner city, there is somewhat of a siege mentality among some young men who feel the need to carry a knife. The response to date has been about more gardaí, stop-and-search powers and longer sentences, none of which are really going to address the problem. My question to the Minister regards the antisocial forum set up by the Government in 2020. Where is that now at and is it going to report? The reality is that gardaí are really stretched and with respect to longer sentences, we have an overcrowded prison system. On stop-and-search powers, there was a report commissioned by the Minister's own Government in 2021, which said that such powers are not going to be effective in cutting down on knife crime.

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