"Maximum Sentences for Knife Crime Will Mean Nothing if Not Enforced" – Tóibín
Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín stated:
“New maximum sentences for knife crime are to be welcomed, however it remains to be seen if the new law will actually mean tougher sentences. The Minister for Justice admitted to me in a response to a Parliamentary Question that there has been a 60% increase in the number of knives that have been seized by the Gardaí in the last 10 years. This is incredibly serious.
Over 17,000 knives have been seized by the Gardaí in that time. Indeed there have been peaks in 2019 and 2021 in the number of people being treated in hospital for wounds reived in knife assaults. Many people in certain areas are living in fear. Gardaí I have spoken to, believe this is caused by increased knife-carrying, especially among young males.
I welcome the increase in the maximum sentencing, but it won’t add up to a hill beans unless the law is enforced. Garda numbers are still falling. Ireland has one of the lowest number of police per capita ratios in the whole of the EU. The number of Gardaí has fallen every year, Minister Helen McEntee has been Minister for Justice. This is materially reducing their ability to enforce the law.
Our prisons are overflowing. In response to a PQ to me Minister McEntee admitted that every year she selects prisoners for early release to make space for new prisoners because the prisons are so full. I have no doubt that this effects sentencing. Judges operate within the physics of the Criminal Justice System, if there is nowhere to put criminals, I believe this leads to a reduction of custodial sentences. We need more Gardaí, more prison spaces and we need to look at minimum custodial sentences for knife crime if we really want our streets to be safer”.
