The Coalition will make bail laws “tighter” if possible Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said as Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald questioned why “so many serious crimes are being committed by people who have been released on bail”.
Mr Martin said, “we have to keep the bail laws under constant review” and the Government will continue to assess them. “If we can, if we can make it tighter, we will, obviously, in a way that would be constitutionally allowable. But the bottom line is, there is no tolerance on the Government side in respect of these crimes.”
In the wake of the knife attacks in Stoneybatter and the fatal knife assault on South Anne Street, both in Dublin, Ms McDonald accused the Government of years of neglect and failure to respond to knife crime, adding that “the carrying of knives now presents a clear and present danger to the public” and is “endemic”, adding to the fear of people
But Mr Martin insisted there is “no tolerance on the Government side in respect of these crimes”. He described the Stoneybatter attack as “an appalling attack on people going about their daily lives”. He said, “we must be very clear and absolutely intolerant of people carrying knives in their possession if they go for a night’s recreation”.
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Raising the issue during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, Ms McDonald said adding to public order concerns “is that those arrested for these attacks had been on bail for other serious offences”.
She said, “the man arrested for the attacks in Stoneybatter was facing charges in relation to a drug seizure, while two of the men arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing on Saturday have been on bail for other serious offences”.
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The Dublin Central TD added that there were several “high-profile serious cases where the perpetrator had been on bail for other offences ... People are also asking how it is that individuals who have been involved with serious crime in other countries are able to be here in Ireland.”
Mr Martin acknowledged that carrying knives is a “growing phenomenon and it is reprehensible and it’s putting the lives of people in danger”.
But he said penalties for knife crime had been strengthened with an increase from five to seven years in the maximum sentence for possession of a knife, trespassing with a knife and producing a knife to unlawfully intimidate others.
He said bail is “solely a matter for the judge” but he said the law is constantly under review.
Sinn Féin Cork South-Central TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire highlighted crime in Cork including a stabbing incident near the Taoiseach’s office. Mr Martin said there would be more gardaí in Cork and an increase in Garda numbers more generally countrywide.
