Yesterday, the Taoiseach told Deputy McDonald there was a robust legal framework to deal with knife crime, suggesting there were no gaps in the powers that gardaí have to address this serious crime. Nor did the Minister for Justice, Deputy O’Callaghan, suggest there were any gaps in the legislation until last night, when he indicated new laws would need to be introduced to give gardaí greater powers to stop and search people they suspect of carrying knives. Can the Taoiseach or the Minister tell the Dáil when the Government became aware that existing knife crime powers were not adequate to deal with the issue? Was the issue raised with them by members of the Garda or was the Government aware of this deficiency when it championed its previous legislation that it told us addressed this issue? Will the Government now accept that no amount of new laws will cover up for the fact that we simply do not have enough gardaí on the streets of our cities and towns?

There must be a multifaceted response to knife crime. One of the responses has to be ensuring that we have greater numbers of gardaí on the streets to seize knives. Last year, over 2,100 knives were seized by An Garda Síochána. That is part of the solution.

Another part has to be powers for An Garda Síochána in order that gardaí can stop and search people so that they can seize knives from them if they suspect they are carrying knives. The Deputy will be aware of the Garda powers Bill, the heads of which were published last year. I will bring that legislation forward to this House. I hope Deputy Carthy and Sinn Féin will support that legislation and that all members of the Opposition will support it. It is clear we need a strong, clear statutory basis in order for gardaí to seize knives which we all admit are a dangerous threat to people in our community.

What about the question I asked?