Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

The garda in question is doing a tremendous job and is making a great difference, but I bet that in a year's time he will be off the beat doing other things within the force. We must incentivise those who make a huge effort and put to one side those who are not doing their job.

The Minister should examine the proliferation of knives in our major cities. A sub-culture has come into existence involving gangs of youths carrying dangerous knives. Some months ago we saw a terrible, unprovoked attack in Coolock in which a young man was killed. That case, which involves juveniles, will be coming before the courts. I ask the Minister to consider a proposal by a former Garda superintendent for a "bin the blade" campaign. It was used to great effect in some UK cities where the police granted an amnesty to encourage people to hand in their dangerous knives. Having examined our legislation in this regard, I do not think it needs to be updated that much but it does need to be enforced. A high-profile advertising campaign together with the involvement of local gardaí would ensure that we can get these knives out of circulation. They are causing untold damage on our streets every weekend.