On this page you will find the relevant knife laws in Ireland that cover items for sale on the Kilkenny Knife and Tool website and in the Kilkenny Knife and Tool retail shop.
If you are purchasing from outside of Ireland please be aware of your local laws.
FIREARMS AND OFFENSIVE WEAPONS ACT, 1990
PART III
Offensive Weapons
Possession of knives and other articles.
9.—(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), where a person has with him in any public place any knife or any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed, he shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that he had good reason or lawful authority for having the article with him in a public place.
(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), it shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that he had the article with him for use at work or for a recreational purpose.
(4) Where a person, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse (the onus of proving which shall lie on him), has with him in any public place—
(a) any flick-knife, or
(b) any other article whatsoever made or adapted for use for causing injury to or incapacitating a person,
he shall be guilty of an offence.
(5) Where a person has with him in any public place any article intended by him unlawfully to cause injury to, incapacitate or intimidate any person either in a particular eventuality or otherwise, he shall be guilty of an offence.
(6) In a prosecution for an offence under subsection (5), it shall not be necessary for the prosecution to allege or prove that the intent to cause injury, incapacitate or intimidate was intent to cause injury to, incapacitate or intimidate a particular person; and if, having regard to all the circumstances (including the type of the article alleged to have been intended to cause injury, incapacitate or intimidate, the time of the day or night, and the place), the court (or the jury as the case may be) thinks it reasonable to do so, it may regard possession of the article as sufficient evidence of intent in the absence of any adequate explanation by the accused.
(7) (a) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both.
(b) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (4) or (5) shall be liable—
(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both, or
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.
(8) In this section “public place” includes any highway and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise, and includes any club premises and any train, vessel or vehicle used for the carriage of persons for reward.
(9) In this section “flick-knife” means a knife—
(a) which has a blade which opens when hand pressure is applied to a button, spring, lever or other device in or attached to the handle, or
(b) which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force and when released is locked in an open position by means of a button, spring, lever or other device.
Trespassing with a knife, weapon of offence or other article.
10.—(1) Where a person is on any premises as defined in subsection (2) as a trespasser, he shall be guilty of an offence if he has with him—
(a) any knife or other article to which section 9 (1) applies, or
(b) any weapon of offence (as defined in subsection (2)).
(2) In this section—
“premises” means any building, any part of a building and any land ancillary to a building;
“weapon of offence” means any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to or incapacitating a person, or intended by the person having it with him for such use.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both, or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.
Production of article capable of inflicting serious injury.
11.—Where a person, while committing or appearing to be about to commit an offence, or in the course of a dispute or fight, produces in a manner likely unlawfully to intimidate another person any article capable of inflicting serious injury, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both, or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.
Power to prohibit manufacture, importation, sale, hire or loan of offensive weapons.
12.—(1) Any person who—
(a) manufactures, sells or hires, or offers or exposes for sale or hire, or by way of business repairs or modifies, or
(b) has in his possession for the purpose of sale or hire or for the purpose of repair or modification by way of business, or
(c) puts on display, or lends or gives to any other person,
a weapon to which this section applies shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) Where an offence under subsection (1) is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, the director, manager, secretary or other officer or any person purporting to act in such capacity shall also be guilty of an offence.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both, or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.
(4) The Minister may by order direct that this section shall apply to any description of weapon specified in the order except any firearm subject to the Firearms Acts, 1925 to 1990.
(5) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order made under this section.
(6) The importation of a weapon to which this section applies is hereby prohibited.
(7) Every order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.
Full Act: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1990/act/12/enacted/en/print#sec12
S.I. No. 66/1991 – Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 (Offensive Weapons) Order, 1991.
1. (1) This Order may be cited as the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 (Offensive Weapons) Order, 1991.
(2) This Order shall come into operation on the 1st day of May, 1991.
2. It is hereby directed that section 12 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 (No. 12 of 1990), shall apply to the following descriptions of weapons:
( a ) a flick-knife, that is to say—
(i) a knife which opens when hand pressure is applied to a button, spring, lever or other device in or attached to the handle, or
(ii) a knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force and when released is locked in an open position by means of a button, spring, lever or other device;
( b ) a knuckleduster, that is to say—
(i) a band of metal or other hard material worn on one or more fingers, and designed to cause injury, or
(ii) any weapon incorporating a knuckleduster;
( c ) a swordstick or dagger cane, that is, a hollow walking-stick or cane containing a blade which may be used as a sword or dagger;
( d ) a sword umbrella, that is an umbrella containing a blade which may be used as a sword;
( e ) any weapon from which one or more sharp spikes protrude which is worn attached to the foot, ankle, hand or wrist (sometimes known when intended to be attached to the foot, as a footclaw and, when intended to be attached to the hand, as a handclaw);
( f ) the weapon sometimes known as a belt buckle knife, being a buckle which incorporates or conceals a knife;
( g ) the weapon sometimes known as a push dagger, being a knife the handle of which fits within a clenched fist and the blade of which protrudes from between two fingers;
( h ) the weapon sometimes known as a hollow kubotan, being a cylindrical container containing a number of sharp spikes;
( i ) the weapon sometimes known as a shuriken, shaken or death star, being a hard non-flexible plate having three or more sharp radiating points and designed to be thrown;
( j ) the weapon sometimes known as a balisong or butterfly knife, being a blade enclosed by its handle, which is designed to split down the middle, without the operation of a spring or other mechanical means, to reveal the blade;
( k ) the weapon sometimes known as a telescopic truncheon or telescopic billy, being a truncheon which extends automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to its handle;
( l ) the weapon sometimes known as a blowpipe or blow gun, being a hollow tube out of which hard pellets or darts are shot by the use of human breath;
( m ) the weapon sometimes known as a kusari gama, being a length of rope, cord, wire or chain fastened at one end to a sickle;
( n ) the weapon sometimes known as a kyoketsu shoge, being a length of rope, cord, wire or chain fastened at one end to a hooked knife;
( o ) the weapon sometimes known as a manrikigusari or kusari, being a length of rope, cord, wire or chain fastened at each end to a hard weight or hand grip;
( p ) the weapon sometimes known as a sap glove, being a glove into which metal or some other hard material has been inserted or to which metal or such material has been attached;
( q ) the broad knife known as a machete or matchet.
Full: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1991/si/66/made/en/print
1. (1) This Order may be cited as the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment) Order 2009.
(2) This Order shall come into operation on 1 September 2009.
2. Article 2 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1991 ( S.I. No. 66 of 1991 ) is amended as follows:
(a) in paragraph (e) by substituting “foot, ankle, arm, hand or wrist” for “foot, ankle, hand or wrist”;
(b) in paragraph (q) by substituting “machete or matchet;” for “machete or matchet.”;
(c) by inserting, after paragraph (q), the following paragraph:
“(r) the sword sometimes known as samurai or katana, other than such a sword—
(i) made before 1954, or
(ii) made at any other time according to traditional methods of making swords by hand.”.
Full: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2009/si/338/made/en/print