Gardaí from ethnic communities may be allowed to wear turbans

GARDAÍ from ethnic communities may be allowed to wear turbans on duty in a bid to attract members to the force.

The changes are part of a major recruitment campaign which will increase the size of the force to 14,000 members.

Satwinder Singh, a Sikh, said there were concerns about dress code and diet and he asked if the force would accommodate “articles of faith”, such as the Sikh turban, and provide for the vegetarian needs of Sikhs.

Department of Justice official John Lohan said that as other countries had accommodated such issues, so would Ireland.

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.

Superintendent Grogan, who works in the garda human resources section, said: “That’s what the Rotterdam Charter advises, which the gardaí 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: “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.

Bo Lei, 32, from China, said he wanted to join the garda after previously training with the Irish army for two months.

“It was tough. They wanted me to sign a three-year contract but my visa had to be renewed after each year, so they couldn’t let me in.”

He said he and many of his friends welcomed the opportunity to join the Garda.

“I think it’s the first time they are going to have Chinese,” he said.