TWO families who each lost a teenage son in a stabbing appealed yesterday for support for a "Bin Your Blade" campaign aimed at reducing the number of knives on the street.
The campaign's main aim is an amnesty allowing knives to be handed in during October and November in bins provided at every Garda station.
At the launch of the Fianna Fail campaign, the relatives of the two youths described how the stabbings had devastated them. They wished to save other families from the same tragedy.
The "Bin Your Blade" move is being endorsed by many organisations, including Victim Support, the Garda Representative Association, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, the Garda Federation, the National Bus and Rail Union, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and the National Youth Council of Ireland.
Also lending support are the groups Boyzone and OTT. The five members of OTT were at the launch in Dublin yesterday.
The Fianna Fail TD, Mr Eoin Ryan, who planned the campaign with Alderman Michael Donnelly, called on the Minister for Justice to amend the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1991.
They also sought a ban on the sale of knives to persons aged under 16, the registration of those involved in importing or selling sporting knives, and an obligation to be placed on them to keep records of purchasers.
At the press conference, Mrs Teresa Ward said her son, Glen, who was 16, had been killed by stab wounds in August 1993. Her husband, Edward, accompanied her.
She said they had lived in Drimnagh, Dublin, but had moved to Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, because of the tragedy. She said she had come out of hospital to attend the conference.
Her son and the teenage boy who killed him were friends. The boy who did it got a life sentence but he was legally free now. Mrs Ward said it had devastated the family, including her other five children.
She was delighted with the campaign. If something had been done years ago, their son's death might never have happened. Death seemed to be acceptable in Dublin.
Mrs Annette Wall, who was with her daughter Erica, said her son, Keith, who was an apprentice in the Defence Forces at Baldonnel, would have been 23 yesterday. He was killed on March 17th, 1992, at Balfe Road, Walkinstown East. The youth who killed him was aged 15 years and was sentenced to four years but was now out. She said she had seen him in the street.
"I think knives should be banned. No person should be allowed to carry a knife, regardless of age," she said.
Alderman Donnelly said they were trying to save lives. There were enough accidents and other tragedies. The carrying of knives and the number of incidents had now reached crisis proportions.