There’s calls for a greater Garda presence on the streets of Dublin after three people were stabbed in separate incidents, all within the space of an hour over the weekend.
Two of the incidents took place in Dublin 15 on Saturday. A third incident took place near St. Stephen’s Green, where a teenager was stabbed at around 5:30pm.
Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond has since called for a knife ‘amnesty‘ in order to rid the offensive weaponry from the hands of potential ne’r do wells.
The amnesty would mean weapons can be surrounded to Gardaí with no questions asked.
The campaign would take place on a public health basis, introducing education in schools and in youth centres with early intervention taking place at a community level.
The Fine Gael TD believes the successful Scottish model would reap far more reward than the introduction of tougher sentences.
“Some may call for tougher or mandatory sentences for knife crimes and these may be justified but often by the time it gets to that state it is too late,” he said.
Deputy Richmond added: “Unfortunately, it becomes acceptable to carry a knife and this stigma goes around that you need a knife.”
