Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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379. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of knife crime convictions in each of the years from 2015 to 2019 and to date in 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29593/20]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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380. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of knife seizures by An Garda Síochána in each of the years from 2005 to 2019, including the age range of those holding the knives, by county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29599/20]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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381. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of stabbing assaults in each of the years from 2005 to 2019, including the age range of perpetrators, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29600/20]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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382. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to tackle the issues of knife crime and knife holding among teenagers and young persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29601/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 379 to 382, inclusive, together.

I can inform the Deputy that An Garda Síochána are currently operating an Assaults in Public Reduction Strategy 2019-2021, which is targeted at tackling all types of assaults in public. This national strategy is informed by a pro-arrest, early-investigation and proactive high-visibility approach to assault reduction. It places particular emphasis on prevention, education and awareness. The strategy promotes early prosecution of offenders where feasible and appropriate.

A comprehensive and robust legal framework is in place with respect to knife crime including heavy penalties for breaches of the laws concerned. Under the provisions of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, the maximum penalty for a conviction for possessing a knife in a public place without good reason or lawful authority was increased from one to five years. An Garda Síochána also have an extended power of search without warrant in relation to knives and offensive weapons.

An Garda Síochána also address the issue of knife crime through education and engagement with community initiatives.

At an operational level, An Garda Síochána pro-actively targets public disorder and anti-social behaviour, including knife-related crime, through the strategic deployment of Garda resources, and areas identified as public order hot-spots by local Garda management are the subject of additional foot and mobile patrols.

The Deputy will also be aware that my Department has published a draft new Youth Justice Strategy in tandem with an online consultation, which has been completed recently. The draft Strategy is currently being refined with reference to the outcome of the public consultation and the views of key stakeholders, with a view to presenting the finalised version to Government by the end of the year.

A key priority for this new Strategy will be to strengthen and expand the role of the Garda Youth Diversion projects and other community-based initiatives, including those working with the Probation Service. Bringing the full range of relevant interventions together in a coherent and holistic response to youth crime will support the objective of diverting young people from crime and anti-social behaviour, including knife crime.

I have requested the number of knife crime convictions in each of the years 2015 to 2019 and to date in 2020 from the Courts Service and I am advised that there are no separate code for various categories of knife crime, the code supplied to the Courts Service by An Garda Síochána includes knives or other articles which could include screwdrivers, knuckledusters, guns etc.

The following table shows the number of convictions and number of persons convicted for Possession of Knives & other Articles under Section 9(1) Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990:

The following report shows the number of convictions and number of persons convicted for Possession of Flick-Knife under Section 9(4) Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990:

The Deputy should note that the Courts Service can only provide data in relation to where offence codes provided on the system were used by prosecutors. Prosecutors may have used uncoded free text offences and any such offences would not be included in the data provided in the tables above. Furthermore, a person may be convicted for both offences and will appear more than once on the report.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that the following table provides the number of knife seizures by An Garda Síochána in each of the years 2005 to 2019 by Garda Division:

* count is less than 10.

That Deputy should be aware that An Garda Síochána have noted that the increase in knives seized since 2017 is likely due to a change in recording practice. The Property and Exhibits Management System (PEMS) was implemented on 30/03/2016. It is expected that PEMS has had a significant impact on the electronic recording and tracking of property and exhibits across the organisation, moving from the traditional property book. This increase in records of property seized has been seen across all objects/categories since the introduction of PEMS, not just knives. The impact of PEMS implementation is clear and should be considered alongside evidence of an increase in any object being seized in the later period.

The following is a summary of the age range of Suspected Offenders associated with those same incidents whereby a knife was seized over the same period from 01/01/2005 to 31/12/2019:

I am advised by An Garda Síochána that to extract the number of stabbing assaults in each of the years 2005 to 2019, including the age range of perpetrators, a significant manual trawl of both the PULSE database would be required. This is not possible to do in time available.