Knife control laws to be tightened
Tuesday August 07 2001
Justice Minister John O'Donoghue is to order the review following submissions on a National Register of Weapons by a group of backbench TDs.
The Dail's Health and Children Committee chairman, Batt O'Keeffe (FF), claimed that while Irish gun-controls are amongst the best in the world, there is an alarming disparity of control for weapons such as knives and swords.
Concern has mounted over recent months at the spiral in violent crime with a retiring Cork Circuit Court Judge AGMurphy expressing anxiety that society was in grave danger of being overwhelmed by such crime.
Deputy O'Keeffe has urged a further tightening of controls under the 11-year-old Offensive Weapons Act.
"The dramatic increase in the number of people killed or seriously maimed by the use of lethal knives has prompted a significant number of people to query the free availability of these knives," he said.
The Cork TD said it was imperative for a National Register of such weapons to be compiled and for strict licensing of knives capable of inflicting serious harm.
"The 1990 Act does contain controls for knives but I believe these are inadequate to deal with the scale of the problem," he added.
Deputy O'Keeffe has made a formal submission to Minister O'Donoghue and the Department will review the 1990 Act.
One proposal is for an amnesty to be offered allowing the surrender of all dangerous knives and swords before tough new controls are enacted.
"A similar campaign called 'Bin the Blade' proved a huge success in Britain and I believe we can achieve comparable results," the TD said.
- Ralph Riegel
