The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has no plans to amend the law governing the sale, possession and importation of weapons such as the sword believed to have been used in Sunday's attack in Finglas.
Despite Opposition claims that this would require only a "simple amendment" to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act (1990), a spokeswoman for the department said it has "no specific proposals at present" to do so.
She noted that under the current Act, flick knives and specified offensive weapons are prohibited. In addition, the Act makes it an offence for any person to possess a knife or sharply pointed article in any public place without good reason or lawful authority.
"Any person found guilty of such offences is liable on conviction to a fine of up to €1,270 or imprisonment for a term of up to five years or both," she said. "The Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 is kept under continuous review."
However, Fine Gael spokesman on justice Charlie Flanagan TD yesterday said he was repeating a previous call he had made for a ban on samurai-type swords.
"This was a truly horrific incident involving an unusual but potentially deadly weapon," Mr Flanagan said.
"A simple amendment to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act of 1990 would allow for a ban on the sale, possession or importation of these weapons.
"This could be accompanied by a special permit for genuine collectors and martial arts practitioners.
"The UK has imposed a ban on dangerous swords following a series of similar incidents. I would urge the Irish Government to reconsider."
Alan Mullen of Mullen Sports on Dublin's Mary Street, a specialist martial arts shop which sells samurai-type swords priced from about €100 to €400, said he would welcome moves to control the sale of such weapons.
However, he said it would be necessary to ban and/or limit the sale of a wide range of such swords.
He also said that several shops which did not specialise in sports goods sold the items freely.
Mr Mullen, who voluntarily introduced a requirement for anyone wishing to purchase such a weapon from his shop to produce identification, estimated that he has sold 300 to 400 of these weapons in the past decade.