The Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan is to ask the Garda to prioritise the fight against Ireland's growing knife culture in the force's policing plans for next year following a near doubling in fatal stabbings in the past 10 months.
Figures compiled by The Irish Timesshow the stabbing murder rate is on course to double by the end of the year to record levels.
In spite of the emphasis being placed on gun crime, knife murders actually accounted for almost all of the significantly increased murder rate shown in official year-to-date crime statistics published last week.
The figures on fatal stabbings compiled by The Irish Timesshow that so far this year 29 people have been stabbed to death compared with 18 stabbing murders in all of last year.
If current trends continue for the remainder of the year the annual figure will be double last year's level.
The data on stabbing murders this year also show that almost all cases have been solved by the Garda. A very significant number of those killed were stabbed by people known to them, many in their own homes.
The figures also debunk a perception among some people that the growing knife culture is being driven by incidents involving foreign nationals.
Of the 29 knife killings so far this year only seven have involved foreign national victims.
The majority of the stabbings - 17 cases - were outside Dublin (see panel).
On the publication of the Central Statistics Office year-to-date crime figures last week, Mr Lenihan said that while the murder rate had increased significantly in recent months this was attributable to domestic killings rather than gun murders.
He criticised commentators for making "wild statements" about gangland gun murders before they had examined the facts about the rising murder rate.
The CSO figures showed that in the 12 months to September 30th there were 67 murders compared with 56 in the previous corresponding period - an increase of 20 per cent. To date in 2007 the level of gun murders, at 17, is exactly the same as at this point last year, according to the Department of Justice.
This means the increased murder rate is entirely attributable to the growing number of fatal stabbings.
Mr Lenihan has become so concerned by the trend that he is giving it new emphasis as he draws up his policing priorities for the year ahead.
These will be presented to the Garda Commissioner, who will establish operations to address the Minister's priorities.
This will be the first time that knife crime will feature in the force's official set of priorities.
Senior Garda sources who spoke to The Irish Timessaid that because of the domestic nature of many of the killings, fatal stabbings can be "almost impossible to prevent".
However, Garda sources said the most realistic way of controlling the growing knife culture would be to introduce a long term education and awareness-raising programme aimed at young people and teenagers.
