Antiquated legislation on fireworks should be updated to cut down on anti-social behaviour and burn injuries, Fine Gael has said.
The number of fireworks seized by the gardai has increased by more than 500 per cent in the last four years but there are no effective penalties for those caught using them under the 130-year old Explosives Act.
Fine Gael Justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe said it was no surprise the legislation wasn't working. "Every year at Halloween and the New Year there is a sudden escalation in serious anti-social behaviour involving fireworks. This causes great distress to vulnerable people such as the elderly, and to animals including guide dogs. Essentially, we have a law that is honoured more in the breach than anything else," he said.
The number of individual fireworks seized by gardai has increased from nearly 5,600 in 2000 to more than 36,200 last year.
Mr O'Keeffe is proposing that the 1875 Act should be updated to include heavier fines for the illegal importation and resale of fireworks.
Garda superintendents should be able to grant a special fireworks display licence on special occasions such as Halloween for people who have completed a special training course. And a nationwide fireworks information campaign should be launched to warn about the danger of unsafe fireworks. According to figures obtained by Mr O'Keeffe, people have been hospitalised for firework-related injuries.
Around 70 per cent of the injured were men under 20 and 40 per cent of the injuries were burns, which are usually caused by children lighting bangers and holding on to them for too long.
In Tallaght, Dublin last year, a young man suffered serious facial injuries after the firework he was lighting in his mouth went the wrong way. "Fireworks can be a great source of entertainment when handled by a professional or someone with training, but can also be a lethal explosive which can maim and kill when in the wrong hands," said Mr O'Keeffe.
Under Justice Minister McDowell's proposed amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill, it will be illegal to import fireworks with intent to supply, as well as to light fireworks in a public place and to attack property or people with them.
In the North, fireworks are legal but can only be bought by those holding a fireworks licence.
PA