Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has insisted that anyone caught in possession of a knife in an “aggressive manner” will face the new maximum sentence of five years in jail.
Speaking following a number of fatal and non-fatal knife attacks in Mayo and Dublin in recent days, Mr Ahern said the incidents marked “a very worrying turn of events”.
He said the Government had been keeping a “very close eye” on crimes involving the use of knives, particularly in view of the way such crime had escalated in the UK.
But Mr Ahern said it was “impractical” to ban all knives, given the fact there were “potentially lethal weapons” in “every house press in the country”.
He said knife amnesties, to a certain extent, had worked in the past, but that these were not the answer.
“Really, ultimately, the answer is stricter penalties, enforcement of the law, to make sure that a message goes out very strongly to people that are carrying these, that if they are carrying them they will do long sentences.
“And equally so, to try and convince [people], particularly the younger population that having these is not cool and is likely to lead to tragedy.”
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Ahern said he and Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy had participated in an awareness campaign about the use of knives back in February.
In addition, the Government had introduced legislation in July to increase the maximum prison sentence for possession of a knife in a public place from one year to five years.
It had also given gardai “extensive powers of search without warrant” where a Garda had reasonable grounds to suspect a person was carrying a knife. The legislation had also banned samurai swords.
Questioned on whether it appeared the information campaign and increased prison sentences were not working, Mr Ahern said he believed it would take time for these to “kick in” given that the legislation had only been passed in July.
“But it is clearly a very strong message from the Oireachtas that anyone who is caught in possession of a knife in an aggressive manner in a public place will get a full sentence. The awareness campaign, it has to be said, we would probably like it to be more successful.”
Mr Ahern rejected Fine Gael’s criticism yesterday which claimed the Government was losing the fight against an “epidemic” of knife crime.
He said the latest figures from the CSO showed there would be a drop year-on-year in the number of fatal offences involving knives.
Mr Flanagan claimed offences involving knives “shot up” by 300 per cent between 2003 and 2008.
The Minister said today: “Obviously we will look to see if we can do anymore. But obviously, given the fact that knives of themselves are not offensive weapons unless they are used in an aggressive manner, it is very difficult to legislate in relation to each individual circumstance.”
Mr Ahern said it was “ironic” the Fine Gael justice spokesman would criticise the Government and omit to state that the Government and Oireachtas had acted and attempted to send a “very strong signal” by increasing the maximum penalty for posession of a knife.
He said that even the most recent law was “very strict” in this area.