CORK city’s top cop is urging people not to carry knives. 

Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin made the plea as it emerged that there were 121 people caught in Cork city in 2018 in possession of weapons including knives. 

The number was 9% higher than for 2017.

“We would advise against anybody carrying a weapon,” Chief Supt McPolin said, adding that courts take a “very serious view of people carrying knives. 

"Knives can cause catastrophic and life-scarring injuries.”

He added that a person carrying a knife can have their own knife used against them in confrontations and knives being carried in situations where drink and drugs are involved can be a “lethal combination”.

According to the Department of Justice, offensive weapons include flick-knives, knuckledusters, swordsticks, sword umbrellas, hand and foot claws, belt buckle knives, telescopic truncheons, and machetes.