Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is progressing plans to grant gardaí stronger “stop-and-search powers”, despite a report commissioned by his department showing they do little to combat crime.
The report also found the approach, which has been adopted by UK police forces, created resentment towards the police and harmed community relations.
In February, Mr O’Callaghan said new laws were needed “to give gardaí greater powers to stop and search people they suspect of carrying knives”.
This followed a number of high-profile knife attacks in Dublin, including attacks on three people in Stoneybatter on February 9th and the alleged murder of Quham Babatunde in the city centre following a concert.
‘There wasn’t a dry eye in the house’: Smallest baby ever cared for at Rotunda goes home
Four killed after cable car crash on mountain near Naples
Rosie O’Donnell on her new life in Dublin: ‘I see reflections of myself in this country everywhere I look’
Ireland’s rugby exiles in Britain: Meet the Jack Charlton-style granny hunters
In 2021, the department created a group to examine approaches to reducing knife crime. This was chaired by then minister of state James Browne and formed part of the department’s Antisocial Behaviour Forum.
The department commissioned a study from Maynooth University to examine how other countries have responded to increasing levels of knife crime.
Researchers examined a number of countries, including the UK which underwent a large increase in knife crime in the preceding years.
They found that stop-and-search powers granted to UK police forces, which are generally stronger than the powers granted to gardaí, were largely ineffective in combating the issue.
The resulting report stated intensive stop-and-search practices yielded very low “hit rates”.
In the words of the department, “there is limited evidence of its effectiveness in reducing knife crime”.
The report found increased stop-and-search interventions had not resulted in any “statistically significant” reduction in crime. Additionally, researchers said increased use of stop-and-search powers had “huge potential” to create public resentment “and have been recognised as having detrimental effects on community relations with the police”.
Consequently, while the Antisocial Behaviour Forum recommended an increase in the maximum penalties for possession of knives, it made no recommendation to increase stop-and-search powers.
Last year, gardaí seized 2,100 knives, a 60 per cent increase in a decade.
The new stop-and-search provisions being advanced by the Minister are contained in the Garda Powers Bill, which will grant gardaí the power to stop anyone they suspect of illegally carrying a weapon.
In response to queries, a Department of Justice spokesman characterised the Bill as “codifying” police powers of “search, arrest and detention and procedural rights of suspects.
“The Bill will achieve this through rationalising and modernising those powers to take into account developments in modern technology to provide clarity and transparency.”
He said there were “no quick-fix solutions to tackling knife crime” and that “long-term, evidence-based strategies are needed”.
The spokesman said there was already a “comprehensive and robust legal framework in place in Ireland with respect to knife crime”.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Matt Carthy, who first obtained details of the unpublished Maynooth report, said the Government was “misguided” in thinking legislation alone will solve the problem.
“We need to invest in community, youth and diversion programmes; we need more gardaí, particularly community gardaí, on the streets and we need a criminal justice system that works effectively and efficiently.
“In part, increased knife crime is a symptom of policing failures, including the reduction in garda visibility over recent years.”
