The number of stabbing attacks in the Republic of Ireland plummeted last year to among the lowest levels in recent decades. They are now almost 40 per cent off their peak of the Celtic Tiger era. This is despite a perception that knife crime is a worsening problem, with new legislation having been introduced by the Government to combat it.
The new data, obtained by The Irish Times, also debunks claims by far-right agitators that knife crime has worsened as the number of foreign-born people, including asylum seekers, have come to Ireland.
There were 170 occasions last year when people with “knife assault” injuries were discharged from hospitals in the Republic after being treated as inpatients. That is down 20 per cent on 2023. It is also 37 per cent lower than the peak of 269 stabbing attacks resulting in hospitalisation in 2006, when the population was 4.3 million compared to almost 5.5 million at present.
Knife attacks have now reduced so significantly they are only marginally higher than the record low of 2020, when 154 incidents were recorded. Most crime types reduced by unprecedented levels in 2020 due to strict lockdown periods to stem the spread of Covid-19.
RM Block
Separately, a new Garda study of knife crime also shows a marked downward trend over the last decade across a range of offending, including possession of knives and robberies and other attacks involving the use of a knife.
The research, by Garda analysts, also underlines that the majority of stabbings, including fatal attacks, occur in residential settings and not on the streets or in other public places. On average, there was less than one fatal stabbing per month across the Republic over the past decade.
The knife-crime study by An Garda Síochána’s analysis service focused on the 10-year period to the end of last year and concluded: Robberies with knives in retail outlets reduced by 40 per cent in the five-year period between 2020 and 2024 compared to the previous five years. Robberies in streets and other public places fell by 35 per cent over the same period.
Assaulting causing harm with a knife accounted for less than seven per cent of all assault-causing-harm incidents in the 10 years under review and five per cent of all cases last year.
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There was a 28 per cent increase in knife seizures in 2020-2024 compared to 2015-2019 and a 14 per cent increase in prosecutions for possession of knives.
Men and boys account for 87 per cent of offenders detected in all knife-crime cases and half of those offenders are aged 18-34. Only seven per cent of offenders are aged under 18.
Though the trends are lower and have been for most of the last decade, the Government in 2023 and last year introduced new legislation specifically aimed at knife crime. This included the maximum sentence for producing a knife as a threat, or to aid a crime, was increased from five to 10 years.
The Garda said in a statement people who carried knives were breaking the law but also increasing the likelihood they would be injured or killed in a stabbing attack.
“While walking away from an altercation is often the hardest thing to do, it is the safest. Gardaí can stop and search you if they believe a knife is being carried,” it said.
