Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 58: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his proposals for the Gardaí to combat the rise in stabbings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27385/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The increasing incidence of knife attacks is obviously a worrying trend. The Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 sets out very strict provisions for the control of knives and offensive weapons. The Act makes it an offence for any person, irrespective of age, to:

possess any knife or any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed in any public place, without good reason or lawful authority;

trespass with a knife or any article made for causing injury to or incapacitating a person, and

produce any article, capable of inflicting serious injury, in a manner likely to intimidate another person in the course of committing an offence or appearing to be about to commit an offence or in the course of a dispute or fight.

Any person found guilty of such offences is liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a term of up to five years or both.

A person found guilty of murder through stabbing or otherwise is liable to the highest possible penalty of a mandatory penalty of life imprisonment.

The legislative provisions dealing with offensive weapons, and any other measures which might be taken to counteract this problem, are kept under constant review by my Department.

Prior to the commencement of the new sentences for a range of firearms offences provided for in the Criminal Justice Act 2006, an amnesty was granted for persons who were in possession of firearms and offensive weapons, including knives, to dispose of them.

Enforcement of the provisions of that legislation is a priority for An Garda Síochána and the resources available to the Gardaí have increased dramatically in recent years. That increase in resources will continue. In particular, the Programme for Government provides for an increase in Garda numbers to 15,000 by 2010 and 16,000 by 2012.

In addition to having very strong penalties for offences involving knives, we have to continue to get the message across to young people in particular that carrying around knives is dangerous and wrong. As part of their policing plan for next year the Gardaí plan to launch an education and awareness raising programme aimed at discouraging people, especially young people and teenagers, from carrying knives. This will be in addition to taking rigorous action under the criminal law against those found carrying them.