Knife attack injuries rise after falling steadily for number of years

Injuries sustained in knife attacks in the Republic have begun to increase again after falling steadily for a number of years.

However, gardaí have cautioned against any assumption serious knife crime was increasing, saying one year’s data did not constitute a trend, and insisted the problem was much worse 10 to 15 years ago.

The Department of Justice said it was reviewing the law on “sentencing for knife crimes, as well as all other policies around knife crimes, such as targeted interventions”.

Data obtained by The Irish Times shows there were 178 occasions in 2019 when people with “knife assault” injuries were discharged from hospitals in the Republic after being treated as inpatients.

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That was 9 per cent higher than in 2018 and was the first time since 2015 the number of people treated in hospitals for knife assault injuries increased. Knife injury data for 2020 will not be available until much later this year as it must be compiled and audited.

Review under way

Reacting to the increase in knife assault injuries, the department said a “review” of Garda powers in relation to “dangerous weapons, including knives” was under way.

It added the review, which was part of the wider Justice Plan 2021, “will look at existing and new data sources and international best practice, such as what can be learned from the approaches to violent crime in London and Scotland”.

HSE records for 2015 show that 192 people with “knife assault” injuries were discharged from Irish hospitals having been treated as inpatients. That fell to 182 the following year and then reduced further; to 175 cases in 2017 and 164 cases in 2018. The reduction then stopped in 2019 when cases increased again, to 178 cases.

However, the numbers are still well below the peak of cases, at 269, recorded in 2006. The number of knife injury inpatients remained at more than 230 each year until 2011 when they began to fall.

The HSE “knife assault” data only captures people treated as inpatients. Less serious knife attack injuries, that would not necessitate the victim being admitted to hospital as an inpatient, are not captured in the HSE’s data.

Garda sources said while the number of injuries increased in 2019, they were still much lower than knife injury levels seen during the Celtic Tiger years and just after that period.

Knife seizures

There were 2,145 knives seized by gardaí across the State in 2019, up 33 per cent on 2017. Last year, 2,243 knives were seized.

In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters stated the increase in knife seizures in recent years was due to more proactive policing operations, during a period when the Garda force had grown to a record size. Some of the increase in knife seizures was due to a better recording system introduced in 2016.

The Garda said the number of incidents record in 2019 involving the use or brandishing of a knife was 1,534 and this reduced to 1,333 in 2020. However, most crime types plummeted during last year due to lockdown and a reduction in crimes where knives were produced, used or brandished as a threat was in keeping with wider crime trends.