Madam, - I feel the recent debate on the wearing of the Sikh headdress in the Garda Reserve has been incorrectly categorised. This is not solely a debate between liberals and conservatives; it is also one between secular and non-secular citizens. Many of us who oppose the adoption of the Sikh headdress by members of the Garda do so not because Sikhs "must understand our way of doing things". It is opposed because it would adorn a nominally secular and impartial arm of the State with blatantly religious and ethnically distinctive dress.
In a country where we are only beginning to truly enjoy the benefits of secularism, many citizens sincerely fear the return of religion to public life in this country. It has been consistently pointed out that the Sikh headdress is worn in police forces in the United Kingdom. One need only look to that country to see how a failure to promote a truly secular state in the face of immigration can have potentially irreparable consequences. - Yours, etc,
OLIVER FITZGERALD, Dartry Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6.
Madam, - I agree wholeheartedly with Ultan Ó Broin's (August 22nd) assertion that "no one should be allowed wear any overt symbols of religion while carrying out work for the State". In particular, I believe that the more high-ranking and prominent the individual, the more important this tenet becomes. So, for example, it should not be permissible for a Taoiseach to appear in the Dáil on Ash Wednesday with a substantial and impossibly persistent (in contrast with the rest of the Catholic flock) smudge of ashes on his/her forehead. - Yours, etc,
ANDREW McDERMOTT, Saggart, Co Dublin.
Madam, - I await Ash Wednesday with keen interest to see if any of the secular Garda force displays religious iconography while on duty. - Yours, etc,
DENIS CARROLL, Winton Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6.
Madam, - The failure by Garda Headquarters to anticipate the need for a standard-issue turban for practising Sikhs was hopefully an oversight. As a visit to the excellent Garda Museum in Dublin Castle will demonstrate, there is a wide variety of caps, hats, helmets and berets that are currently standard issue, and all considered equally part of the Garda uniform.
The familiar peaked cap, in this very specific case, is not appropriate, as should have been anticipated by senior management.
A prohibition because a turban is considered "un-Irish" (as opposed to unfamiliar) would be a poor example for other organisations whose staff wear a uniform or even where a dress code applies. How long before Sikh employees elsewhere are told that wearing turbans is not something that is acceptable to the company or to some fellow workers, with the Garda stance cited as a precedent?
Before this misplaced line in the sand becomes confused with one cut in stone, it should reconsidered and redrawn. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KEATING, Ulster Street, Dublin 7.
Madam, - In reference to the member of the Sikh community who wishes to be allowed to wear his turban with proper insignia as a member of the Garda Reserve, the Minister of State with responsibility for integration, Conor Lenihan, said that "foreign nationals coming to Ireland need to understand the way things are done in Ireland".
When I was arrested during the protests at the site of the proposed Shell refinery in Mayo, I was taken to Belmullet Garda station in a van with a picture of a naked woman, torn from a magazine, sellotaped to the inside wall. While I was in custody a friend of mine called to see if I was okay, and one of the gardaí shouted to me that "some bird was looking for you on the phone".
I guess that's the way things are done in Ireland, but I hope our new citizens and residents never get used to it. - Yours, etc,
TADHG McGRATH, Summerhill, Dublin 1.