Crime Data

Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Questions (1436)

Cian O'Callaghan

Question:

1436. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice further to Parliamentary Question No. 741 of 24 February 2021, the number of incidents reported to An Garda Síochána; the number of arrests made relating to knife crime during the same ten-year period in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19493/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Justice

I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from the Garda authorities, however, this has not been provided in time. I will write to the Deputy once the requested report is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

I refer to Parliamentary Question Number 1436 for answer on 21 April 2021, in which you requested, further to Parliamentary Question No. 741 of 24 February 2021, the number of incidents reported to An Garda Síochána; the number of arrests made in relation to knife crime during the same ten-year period in tabular form.

You will recall that the information could not be obtained in the time available and I undertook to consult with An Garda Síochána and contact you again when the information was available.

As you may be aware, there is no specific offence of ‘knife crime’ and in order to provide the information requested, a report was run on PULSE relating to the two offences referred to in Parliamentary Question No. 741 of 24 February 2021; that is, offences contrary to Section 9(1) and 9(4) of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 (as amended).

A search of the PULSE database was conducted on 13th April 2021 to identify any charge or summons created nationwide during the 2010 to 2020 period whereby the associated legislative act was the ‘Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990’ and the offence wording referred to Section 9(1) or Section 9(4). The total count of unique charges or summonses created each year under each heading is as follows:

Offence Wording	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Contrary to section 9(1) & 9(7) of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 as amended by section 39 Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009	2155	1972	1638	1659	1509	1578	1420	1505	1726	1846
Contrary to Section 9(4) Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990	277	272	198	221	212	204	187	178	213	275
Total	2432	2244	1836	1880	1721	1782	1607	1683	1939	2121

Figures are taken from PULSE as of 05:00 on 13th April 2021; they are operational and liable to change. Multiple charges or summonses may be issued for incidents, for example, if there are multiple offenders or multiple categories of charges. Furthermore, charges or summonses may not have been issued in relation to all incidents to date. Figures in the first row referring to “Section 9(1) & (7)…” also incorporate any charge/summons referring to “Section 9(1)…” alone between 2010 and 2013.

It should be further noted that that the relevant weapons relating to these charges/summonses are as defined in the legislation, as such, they will relate to knives and also other articles (such as knuckledusters, guns etc). Please also note that these figures are based on the date the charge/summons was created on PULSE. They will not be directly comparable to the figures from the Courts Service referred to in Parliamentary Question No. 741 of 24 February 2021, as those are based on the date the conviction was recorded. A charge and conviction may happen in the same year or in different years.

I hope this information is of assistance.