Ethnic traditions to be respected for new Gardaí
Gardaí from ethnic communities may be allowed to wear turbans on duty in a bid to attract new members to the force, it emerged today.
The changes are part of a major recruitment campaign which will increase the size of the force to 14,000 members.
Superintendent John Grogan said the force was committed to adapting its uniforms, dietary practices and working patterns to suit recruits from Muslim, Jewish, Sikh and other communities.
“It’s a problem that has been solved in every other police force and an Garda Síochána will be no different in that regard. The commissioner is open to the change and we have invited applications from ethnic minorities,” he said.
Muslim recruits may be allowed to wear turbans on duty and break from shifts to pray five times a day. Sikhs may be permitted to retain important parts of their culture, such as keeping their hair uncut and wearing ceremonial daggers.
Superintendent Grogan, who works in the Garda human resources section, said the intention was to assimilate the new members throughout the force, rather than to use them to police their own community.
“That’s what the Rotterdam Charter advises, which the Gardai have signed up to. We don’t want to ghettoise them. It’ll build better inter-relationships between communities,” he said.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell said the recruitment of ethnic minorities was vital in a multicultural society.
“In five or 10 years, teenage kids from ethnic minorities growing up in our cities and towns and the issue is whether they are going to look to the police force and see faces and hear voices which reflect the communities they come from, or are they going to regard it as a force with which they have little to do?”
He said other countries had made the mistake of reacting too late to their changing societies.
“Now is the time to plan for that inevitable state of affairs, that we will have a diverse society, and to ensure that from day one, the ethnic minorities will have a fair chance to participate in the policing of the community.”
He said the relaxation of the Irish language requirement, which will allow new recruits to learn the language during their training instead, would not damage the language.
The level of Irish language training will be finalised in consultation with Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon O’Cuiv.
Mr McDowell said the standard would be more ‘Buntus Cainte’ (an old Irish primary school book) than ‘cupla focail’ (couple of words).
